Thundering Inferno
by digemsmack
Summary: What kind of changes would have happened if Laxus and Makarov had made a little wager. A wager about certain dragon slayer that only joined the guild a year ago and is still having trouble adjusting to civilized life. Prepare to learn how different it would be been if Laxus took a young Natsu under his wing and grew to see him as a younger brother. Disclaimer do not own Fairy Tail
1. One Small Change

Ch 1: One Small Change

 **July 7th X778 at Fairy Tail:**

It was just your normal day at Fairy Tail; most of the older members had drinks in hand as they regaled their friends about their most recent job. Those that weren't doing this were either getting ready to go out on a new job or were just returning from one and wanted to relax at the guild. Well that was what the older generation of Fairy Tail was up to at the moment; the younger generation was for once actually being fairly quiet when compared to how they usually were.

Now what could possibly be keeping all those over active mages in line for once in their lives, the person responsible for this was surprisingly the same person that was usually responsible for most of the commotions that took place there on a normal day. It was none other than their little self-proclaimed fire dragon slayer, Natsu Dragneel who was currently telling them a story about what he and Igneel did two years ago. And from what most of the adults could gather from walking past and listening in on his story, it had to deal with the infamous Igneel taking Natsu to an island where he was forced to fight fire breathing lizards bigger than him.

Most of the younger members were hanging onto his every single word, which was really easy to do since the boy really got into telling stories. And he would usually get on a table and demonstrate exactly what happened while using his whole body to make sure they could visualize it, something that most of the adults enjoyed watching. A few of the kids looked as if they were pretending to not be interested in his riveting tale, but seeing how they remained silent and let Natsu continue his story gave away that they were enjoying it just as much as the rest. All except for a certain blonde haired boy that is sitting at the bar by himself with a disgruntled look on his face.

This grumpy teen was Laxus Dreyar and grandson of the current guild master of Fairy Tail, Makarov Dreyar. Now he wasn't actually mad at any of the younger generation, some of whom he considered too young for him to even bother at trying to get to know them. No, he was still upset with his grandfather for kicking out his father just a few years earlier and right now he was still trying to figure out what to do with himself. Laxus was contemplating if he should remain in Fairy Tail or go out on his own and try to find his father. But it would seem that his grandfather happened to see how he was off by himself right now and decided to have a little chat with him.

"What's wrong Laxus?" asked Makarov as he took a seat next to his grandson.

"Who says something is wrong with me?" he asked back in an upset tone as he looked in the opposite direction of his grandfather.

"The way you're currently acting is more than enough for me to realize something is bothering you." replied the elderly guild Master with a concerned look, having a good idea that this was still related to the kicking out the boy's father.

"Well you're wrong so why don't you mind your own business and just leave me alone." he mumbled back just loud enough for Makarov to hear, which he definitely did as the old man's expression became one of slight hurt.

"I can't do that Laxus, it's my job to be worried about your wellbeing." stated Makarov, hoping that he would look back at him. Which is exactly what happened, but he was now face to face with an angry teen that looked ready to snap at any moment.

"If that's actually what you were concerned about then you never would have kicked him out." he replied with a sneer.

"We've already been over all of this, more times than I can remember." said Makarov with a sad look in his eyes as he looked back at his grandson who was clearly still in pain over it. "You know that I had to do that not only for you, but also for the wellbeing of Fairy Tail." he finished with a sigh.

"And I have to completely disagree with you on that one Grandpa!" spat out Laxus as if it was an insult.

"Okay, I can see that this isn't going to go anywhere productive so why don't we talk about something else. Like why you aren't with the rest of them and trying to make a team with members closer to your age?" he asked with a hopeful look. He could tell that his grandson wanted to continue talking about how he believed kicking out his father was the wrong decision, but for some reason he decided to also move on from that as well.

"Why in the world would I want to work or hang out with any of those weaklings?" asked Laxus as he and Makarov looked over at the younger generation that was currently laughing along with Natsu about something he just told them.

"Laxus just because you're now an S-Class mage doesn't mean you're better than the rest of them and there are jobs out there that require you to have a team. Also I think it would be a good idea if you made a few friends here, which is something you can never have too many of." he answered with a smile.

"That's exactly what becoming an S-Class mage means, and I'll just pick jobs that don't need a team to accomplish since they would only get in my way. As for making friends I definitely don't need you of all people worrying about my personal life." stated Laxus as he continued to watch the members that were around his age or younger.

"Fine, if you don't want to make a team with any of them then how about forming a team with some of the older members?" he asked, hoping that he could get his grandson to open up just a little more. Because if he kept to himself like he currently was, Makarov knew that he would just become more detached from the guild and do who knows what.

Makarov expected his grandson to start yelling at him about how stupid of an idea that was, or maybe even storm away without a word. But the one thing he didn't expect to hear from him was actual laughter, which was exactly what he was hearing right now.

"Come on Grandpa; that is way worse than suggesting for me to form a team with those brats. At least the brats could possibly grow in strength and learn a thing or two from me, but the rest of the older members have already hit their prime. So I think I'm just fine with staying on my own for right now." he explained with a slight smirk on his face.

"Laxus my boy, the one thing I've learned while being the Master of Fairy Tail is that people are always ready to surprise you when you least expect it." stated Makarov with a small smile. Now wondering how he could try and get his grandson to be more involved with the rest of the guild, so that he would eventually see the truth to what he just said to him.

"Whatever Grandpa." he replied as both of their attention was drawn back to the group that was now drawing the rest of the guild's attention as well.

 **A few moments earlier with the younger generation of Fairy Tail:**

"And after that I fell asleep and Igneel flew us back to our cave." finished Natsu with a big smile as he sat back down in his seat. That for the last few minutes was completely vacant since he was standing on the table for most of his story.

"That sounds like quite the day Natsu." replied Lisanna with a bright smile.

"No kidding, I don't think I would have been able to survive something like that." stated Cana as she shook her head back and forth.

"Too bad Flame Brain is just making all of it up." said Gray with a smug grin spread across his face.

"Are you calling me a liar Ice Princess?" asked Natsu in a loud voice as he now glared at the ice mage.

"That's exactly what I'm calling you Idiot, none of us even believe you were raised by a dragon. So why in the world would we believe anything else that you tell us that involves your made up father." he stated now just in his boxers and glaring right back at Natsu.

"Igneel's real you freaking Stripper!" growled out the dragon slayer, who wanted nothing more than to leap across the table and beat the shit out of Gray. The only reason he didn't do that right now was because of a certain red head sitting at the table with them, who made it very clear to him about her opinion on them constantly fighting with each other.

"Well let's take a quick vote and see what everyone else thinks about your stories Ash for Breath." suggested Gray, who also decided to not start fighting the fire mage for the same reason as him.

"Let's do that then, you believe me right Lisanna?" he asked turning to the little takeover mage sitting next to him.

"Yep!" she replied with a confident smile, which caused Natsu to smile right back at her.

"Well of course your girlfriend would side with you." stated Gray, causing a few of them to snicker at the two kids slightly blushing at his statement.

"They're not dating Gray, and I also believe Pinkie is completely full of crap." declared Mira as she glared at the Ice mage, who usually would be cowering from it. But he seemed too focused on his task of beating Natsu in their current argument.

"One to one Matchstick and I know that the rest are going to be on my side." said Gray with a confident smirk.

"We'll see Snowflake." replied Natsu as he turned to look at Elfman who was on the other side of Mira.

"Sorry Natsu, your stories are really fun and interesting but I'm with Mira-nee on this one." apologized the large boy wearing a suit and not being able to look the fire dragon slayer in eyes. This honestly shocked Natsu since he thought for sure that Elfman believed him since he would actually ask him questions when he told stories about his time with Igneel. But that didn't matter right now since he was still confident that everyone else believed him.

So turning to the next person he waited for their reply, which just so happened to be the brunette Cana Alberona. But just from a quick glance at her face he could already see that she too didn't believe that he was raised by a dragon before he was a member of Fairy Tail. "I'm with them on this one Natsu, because I'm fairly sure that if there was a dragon in the country we would have heard about it by now." she replied with sad smile, since she along with everyone else could see the hurt in his eyes already forming.

"What did I tell you Moron!" stated Gray with a slightly amused look on his face.

"Shut up Blockhead!" yelled Natsu as he glared at him, only to then turn to the next person and start waiting for their answer. Who unfortunately was Levy McGarden, one of the last people in the guild who would ever want to hurt Natsu after he's only ever been extremely nice to her since he joined.

"I think we should probably just stop this discussion and talk about something else." she replied in a shy voice, not liking all of them staring at her right now.

"It's okay Levy." he said with a bright smile, which only made the girl feel worse about all of this. Something that Erza easily picked up on and decided to try and end this before it got even worse than it already was.

"Levy's correct, we should probably talk about something else before someone's feelings gets hurt." stated Erza in her commanding voice, expecting that to be the end of it.

"Like hell we're going to stop while Gray's winning!" shouted Natsu, only to receive a deadly glare from the red head. But to everyone's surprise this didn't cause him to back down like it usually did when she stopped the two rivals from fighting.

"No Erza, I'm not going to let that asshole there disrespect Igneel by saying he doesn't exist when he does." he continued now glaring back at the knight sitting next to him.

"Natsu I said this discussion is over, so it's over and you are going to be punished for uttering such vulgar words in front of ladies." she declared while glaring right back at him.

"And who exactly made you the boss of us Tin Can? If Pinkie here wants to continue this conversation then that's completely up to him." stated Mira with a defiant smirk as Erza was now glaring at her.

"Someone has to, so why don't you go somewhere else you Skank." she hissed back while clenching her fists in anger.

"Bring it Red, I'm just glad to see that I'm no longer the only one who won't be pushed around by you." replied Mira still smirking.

"Oh you're so on!" she shouted back while drawing her sword, but before the two could clash with each other a small explosion of flames erupted in front of Natsu.

"You two can fight each other after we're done here." he declared while still looking at Levy. Everyone else was completely shocked that he did something like that, because up till now the only person that could stop the two was Lisanna. And she used her cuteness to do it, making most of them now extremely afraid for the well-being of their pink haired fire mage.

"I'm okay with that are you?" replied Mira after a little chuckle, now looking at Erza with an expression that just begged for the re-equip mage to disagree. And if she did it would mean that Mira won this round in their rivalry to see which one of them was better.

"Of course I am." she answered through clenched teeth with a forced smile. This once again brought all of the attention back to poor little Levy, who knew that there was now no chance of her getting out of answering this one anymore.

"Sorry, but I don't believe you either Natsu." she whispered out, knowing that he would be hurt by that.

"But it's not because of you, it's due to no one else ever seeing one of them for years now." she explained, hoping that it would make him feel a little better, which it didn't.

"What about you two?" asked Natsu in a dull tone as he looked at Jet and Droy, who for some reason believed that they would be forgotten if they just kept their heads down. Seeing that they couldn't sneak past it, they both just nodded their heads no at his question and decided to keep their heads down once again.

"Looks like I'm right Pinkie." said Gray in a smug tone.

"There's still one more person." he stated as he turned to look at Erza with an expectant look. He was hoping that she would believe him since she was the one to help fill in the gaps on his education that Igneel didn't have time to properly teach him about.

"Natsu it doesn't matter anymore." she replied, not liking the completely blank look he had on his face right now.

"Yes it does, so do you also believe I'm lying about Igneel, Erza?" he asked her as his onyx eyes locked with her chocolate ones.

"I believe that you believe you were raised by a dragon." she replied, instantly regretting it as a completely devastated look came over his face. That only became worse as Gray burst into laughter at finally beating his rival in something and he only stopped because of the glare Erza sent his way.

"Does everyone besides Lisanna think I'm lying about Igneel?" asked Natsu as he looked around the guild, knowing full well that most of them had started to listen in on their conversation a while ago. Most of them tried to play it off as if they weren't listening and didn't hear him, which was more than enough to let him know that they didn't believe him either.

"That would be a yes Numskull, so why don't you do us all a favor and stop telling us lies." stated their resident ice mage and stripper. But rather than getting an angry response like he expected from his rival, all Natsu did was lower his head and remain quiet.

"Gray that's enough, and I would love to hear more of your stories Natsu." said Lisanna as she glared at Gray and then looked back at Natsu with an encouraging smile. That he couldn't see due to his hair obscuring his vision of her at the moment.

"I'd also like to still hear them." stated Elfman, since he really did enjoy them even if he didn't believe all the crazy things that happened to Natsu in them. But this still didn't get a response out of their usually hyperactive dragon slayer, all he did was raise his hands and quickly wipe something away from his eyes before turning away from all of them.

"Are you actually crying?" asked Gray in complete disbelief since he had never been able to get him to do that in any of their fights before this.

"No I'm not!" shouted back Natsu as his voice wavered just a little bit, signaling to most of them that we was most likely about to start crying soon if he already wasn't.

"Awe that's so cutie that you're crying over all of this." said Mira as she smiled at his back, not caring about the glare she was getting from Erza at the moment.

"Mira-nee!" yelled Lisanna as she hit her sister, knowing that Natsu definitely didn't need her sister making this worse for him.

"It's fine Lisanna, and you were wrong Gramps." he replied before hustling out of the guild before anyone could try and stop him.

"You're all idiots." declared Lisanna as she turned back to the table and had a glare that rivaled Erza and her sister's. Needless to say this shocked the whole guild way more than Natsu not getting into a fight with Gray, because none of them have ever heard her say anything like that to any of them before or glare at them like she currently was.

"Why, because we decided to finally call Flame Brain on him lying to us?" asked Gray in an angry tone, only for him to start cowering before Mira glaring at him just daring him to continue.

"I'd also like to know why you just called all of us that?" asked Mira as she turned to look at her little sister.

"Because you all just told Natsu that the only father he had while growing up was just made up by him. And to make matters worse you decided to do that on today of all days, I just hope he decides to come back." she replied with a frown.

"Wait, why is today so important and why wouldn't he come back?" asked Erza now with a very concerned look on her face.

"You all really don't know why today is important to him?" she asked and only received all of them shaking their heads no at her.

"A year ago from today is when Igneel went missing and left Natsu all alone, and that's why I was happy to listen to him tell us all about some fond memories he had before that happened." she finished with her frown having only gotten bigger since she started to explain it to them. Most of them were now regretting that they had this discussion on today of all days, not that it would have been any easier for the dragon slayer on a different day.

"But why wouldn't he come back?" asked Levy with a sad look on her face, already starting to blame herself for not believing in him about Igneel.

"Would you want to come back to a place where they all think you're a liar?" she asked while getting out of her chair and heading to the bar.

"We need to go and find him right away and apologize." declared Erza, with most of the other kids following suit. Gray fell in line after a quick glare from her, and surprisingly Mira didn't need to be convinced at all which couldn't be said for her little sister. This was something that shocked all of them after realizing that little fact.

"Aren't you going to join us Lisanna?" asked Mira as she came up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Nope." she replied, stunning them even more than they already were.

"And I'm saying that not because I don't want to find him, but because I know that it's going to be pointless. He lived out in the wild until he came here, so even if Igneel doesn't exist, it would mean he knows how to survive out there and not be found if he doesn't want to be." she explained, causing most of them to return to their seats with frowns.

"Gray he better return or you'll regret it for the rest of your life that you started all of this." declared Erza before storming out of the guild to most likely go and look for the dragon slayer.

"He'll come back, won't he Master?" asked Levy quietly, hoping to not be heard by anyone but him.

"I have faith that he'll return to us, and so should everyone else." he answered with a smile, only for Laxus to scoff loudly at him.

"Do you have something to say about all of this Laxus?" he asked while turning to look at him.

"Actually I do, if you plan to just keep sitting around like you have been this whole time then you might as well get used to that brat not being here anymore. I'm kind of surprised that he's lasted this long, not many people could deal with Gray constantly harassing them. And let's not forget the illogical beatings he gets from Erza or Mira just having fun messing with him when she knows he still hasn't learned how most things work in the civilized world." replied Laxus in a loud voice so everyone could hear him.

"I'm surprised that you know that much about what's going on around here." he stated with a surprised look on his elderly face.

"I'd have to be blind and deaf to not notice all of that." stated Laxus with a small grin.

"So I'm guessing that you believe you know what to do in a situation like this?" asked Makarov as a small idea started to form in his mind. And he believed that Natsu was definitely the correct kid for the job, for multiple reasons with the main one being that his happiness was infectious.

This initially caught the blonde off guard, but he quickly recovered and started to come up with a plan of his own. "I do, that brat just needs someone to take an active interest in him and teach him a thing or two that he'd never learn on his own." he answered with a confident smirk.

"Interesting, but how would we measure the success of your plan for Natsu other than him staying here? Something that I'm already confident he'll do on his own even if we don't do anything after what happened here today." replied Makarov with his own confident smirk, knowing that it would help push Laxus the way he wanted him to go.

"Easy, we can measure this by what rank he reaches after a certain amount of time." he suggested, now trying to come up with an answer to the next question that he was positive his grandpa would ask him next.

"Indeed that would suffice for a form of measurement, so the only really big questions felt to answer right now are who would be the perfect mentor for a child as hyper as Natsu. And also what rank are they supposed to get him to and how long do they have to complete that task?" asked Makarov as he put on a thoughtful expression and started to stroke his mustache.

"I got it; we'll have Erza start teaching him how to become an A-Class mage. And I think she'll be able to accomplish that within the next three years." he said while snapping his fingers and looking back at his grandson with a huge smile.

"Anyone could do that, I'm betting he'll be able to do that by himself within that amount of time." stated Laxus after scoffing at his grandfather's suggestion.

"Then let me hear who you think could do a better job than Erza?" he asked, while trying to hide the fact that he was happy the conversation was going this way. Something that he was finding harder to do with each passing second as Laxus contemplated his options, and eventually coming to a realization that he at the moment was having a hard time dealing with.

"I've got just the person in mind." replied the lightning mage after a few more seconds of contemplation as a sly grin spread across his face.

"And not only will they be able to make that flaming idiot into an S-Class mage, but they'll also be able to do it by the third S-Class exam from now." he stated while still grinning and slowly getting up from the bar.

"You do realize that's less than three years?" pointed out Makarov with a skeptical look on his face.

"Of course I do, which just shows you how confident I am in this person's abilities." he replied as he did a few little stretches.

"And who exactly are you talking about Laxus?" asked Makarov, already knowing the only person Laxus currently had that much faith in.

"Myself of course, oh and we're definitely going to have to come up with some sort of wager to make this even more interesting." he answered while heading towards the exit.

"Why don't we just do that right now?" asked Makarov, honestly surprised that his grandson didn't want to work out these last details right now.

"I would love to Grandpa, but first I have to make sure that I don't lose this little bet of ours before it's even started." he stated now standing at the door.

"You're not going to be able to find him." stated Lisanna with a frown, only picking up on the fact that Laxus was going to be looking for Natsu for some reason.

"If I was an ordinary mage you'd probably be right, but I'm anything but ordinary." he replied with a smirk before exiting out of the door the next second.

"Master what did he mean by that?" asked Mira in a demanding tone.

"And why is he going to look for Natsu?" asked Lisanna, clearly concerned for their pink haired dragon slayer since he didn't really get along that well with Laxus.

"Mira that is just Laxus being his usual smug self, and don't worry Lisanna, he's only trying to find Natsu so he can start training with him." he answered, causing both girls to have shocked expressions come over their faces. Something that happened to everyone else that was eavesdropping in on their conversation as well.

"You can't be serious!" shouted both girls together. One because she was concerned for her pink haired friend, while the other one was imagining how strong the kid she kept calling Pinkie would become with Laxus as his mentor.

"I am, which should definitely shake things up around here." he responded with a smirk before taking a large swig from his mug. He felt that he earned it if things end up going like he expected them to after this surprising team up.

 **With Natsu in the middle of the woods:**

"Just a bunch of jerks!" he shouted while punching through a tree.

"How dare they think I made you up Igneel, **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** " he bellowed, reducing a large line of trees in front of him to smoldering stumps. This left him a panting mess as he looked at the large chunk of the forest that he destroyed while blowing off some steam.

"I'm surprised you found me." he stated while slumping down next to a stump and leaning against it.

"Did you come here to also call me a liar and tell me Igneel doesn't exist?" he asked with an upset scowl coming over his face.

"Actually I came here to tell you to not listen to those idiots, most of them don't have even the faintest clue of how huge and crazy the world is out there." replied Laxus as he slowly came out from behind one of the few trees left standing.

"So you believe me about Igneel?" asked Natsu with a hopeful expression.

"I do, it would kind of be pretty hypocritical of me to not believe in the creature responsible for me even having magic." he answered with a little chuckle as he leaned up against the tree he used to be hiding behind.

"Hypocritical?" asked Natsu with a confused look, clearly not knowing what the word.

This caused Laxus to shake his head and start wondering if he could actually turn the kid into an S-Class mage like he claimed. But then he remembered what he noticed Natsu doing during some of the guild brawls, which was being able to use all of the chaos to his advantage and even prolong the brawl like the boy wanted.

"It basically means stupid in the instance that I used it in." he explained, glad to see Natsu absorb this information and realize something else that was definitely more important.

"Wait, are you saying that a dragon trained you also? And is that why I thought you always smelled somewhat familiar?" he asked jumping to his feet and rushing over to the teen excitedly.

"No a dragon didn't raise me, but I did have one of their lacrimas implanted in me when I was younger. And that's probably why I smell similar to you, oh and smelling people is not a normal thing for people to do since they don't have noses like we do." replied Laxus with a smirk as Natsu's eyes showed how excited he was right now.

"I knew it, I can't wait to rub it in all of their faces!" he declared, while starting to imagine the look on Gray's face after hearing this.

"Sorry Natsu but you can't tell anyone about me being a dragon slayer like you." stated Laxus with a stern look directed at the younger dragon slayer, who now no longer had the excited expression he had on earlier.

"Why not, this would prove that I'm not lying?" he asked while glaring up at Laxus.

"Because Master Makarov said I have to keep it a secret and he'll probably be upset if he ever finds out that I told you." answered Laxus still looking at Natsu with the same look as before.

"Then why did you even tell me?" asked Natsu with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"So that you'd trust me when I told you that believe you were raised by Igneel. Also I was hoping that it would make you more open to the suggestion I have for you." he replied, noticing that Natsu was still a little hesitant of him. Something that he was glad to see, since it meant that the kid had good instincts and wouldn't trust someone just because they were saying something he wanted to hear.

"And what are you suggesting?" asked Natsu, finding it odd that Laxus of all people was coming to him and trying to help. Not because he disliked the teen or anything like that, but because since he joined the guild all he could tell about the blonde was that he only cared about himself and thought he was better than the rest.

"How would you like to train under me and eventually become an S-Class mage?" he responded, smirking when he saw Natsu's eye brighten at the idea of becoming an S-Class mage. But it was then quickly replaced by a skeptical look as the pink haired boy started to inspect him for some kind of trap.

"What do you get out of training me?" asked the pink haired boy after not being able to come up with any good reason why the lightning mage would even consider doing this. After hearing this Laxus couldn't help but start chuckling, which caused Natsu to lose his cool and try striking the teen that found his question amusing. Of course the next thing Natsu knew he was a twitching mess and now on the other side of the clearing he made before Laxus showed up.

"You're smarter than everyone gives you credit for Natsu, which is why I was chuckling. As for why I would help you and start training you, I'm not going to try and lie to you since you would easily see through it. I want to prove Makarov wrong and show him that I know what I'm talking about and to do that I need to turn you into an S-Class mage within the next three S-Class exams." answered Laxus as he walked towards Natsu.

"Is that the only reason?" he asked once Laxus was now standing over him.

"That's the main reason, but it also wouldn't be bad to see you put those other annoying brats in their place. And the last reason is that I see something in you kid, with a little help I'm confident that you'll become one of the strongest mages to come out of Fairy Tail, trailing behind me of course." stated Laxus as he held out a hand for Natsu to pull himself up with.

"When do we start?" asked Natsu as he pulled himself up while grinning at his new teacher.

"Tomorrow, so make sure to be at the guild as soon as it opens." he replied with his own grin. Turning away from Natsu and heading off to his own place so he could start coming up with a training regimen for the hyperactive dragon slayer, who was currently right now dancing around in joy.

 **Outside the Dreyar residence early the next morning:**

"Didn't I tell you to meet me at the guild?" asked Laxus as he exited the house's front door with a slight smirk. He expected Natsu to be extremely excited about starting to train with him, but he didn't think he'd be so happy that he would actually be waiting for him outside his place.

"You did, but I didn't want to wait that long for you to start training me. I can't wait to show that stripper how much better I am than him!" declared the young dragon slayer while thrusting a fist into the air.

"I can already see we're going to have to work on your patience more than I originally thought, and I know that for a fact you can already destroy Gray if you don't hold back." replied Laxus as he started to walk towards the guild with Natsu following next to him.

"But Gramps told me that if I wasn't careful I could really hurt someone." said the pink haired boy with a conflicted look coming across his face. Because it sounded like Laxus wanted him to no longer hold back when he fought Gray the next time, which would probably be the next time the two actually saw each other.

"The old man is correct since you going all out could easily destroy the whole guild, but that doesn't mean you can't show that ignorant Stripper how much stronger you are compared to him. So the next time he tries to get you to fight him I want you to tell him you'll only face him in a duel outside of the guildhall." he explained with a mischievous grin on his lips.

"And if he doesn't accept I expect you to ignore all of his taunts and don't engage him, which will work as a good way to show me how serious you are about all of this." he finished while looking at the angry fire dragon glaring back up at him.

"Why can't I just hit him like I always do?" asked Natsu after thinking about it for a little bit on his own.

"Because each time that you let your emotions control your actions it's just setting you up for failure." he answered with a slight frown since it was a really hard lesson for him to learn when he was Natsu's age. But boy did his dad make sure that he learned that lesson the hard way, even going so far as to teach him how to be the one making his opponents attacking in a fit of anger. Something that he was apparently very skilled at when it came to Erza and Mira, all he really had to do was call them weak girls and the next second they would most likely be charging him blindly.

"But Igneel told me that my magic is connected to my emotions." stated Natsu, wanting his new teacher to explain himself for going against what Igneel told him.

"Okay Natsu, I'm guessing that Igneel is completely correct about that since he definitely knows more about your magic than I do. But I'm guessing that he would also agree with me on not letting those emotions completely determine what you do next. You need to be able to control them and then focus them in a productive and smarter way than just charging in blindly like you're known to do." elaborated Laxus, hoping that his new protégé was at least understanding a little bit of this.

"I don't get it completely…" he started with his face scrunched up in a thoughtful expression, almost causing Laxus to smack himself in the face right then and there.

"But you're saying that I shouldn't attack right away and wait until later to pay them back for making me angry." he finished with a hopeful look on his face now, which caused Laxus to let out a little chuckle.

"That will work for today I guess and that is basically what I was getting at. So what are you going to do if Gray starts calling you those idiotic names like he usually does?" asked Laxus since they were getting closer to the guild by the second.

"I'm going to ignore him and tell him if he wants to fight me we have to do it outside so I don't have to hold back!" he answered with his usual grin.

"That's what I wanted to hear, but you should probably skip the part about no longer holding back. I'm confident that Makarov will tell you not to so Gray doesn't get too hurt, now what are you going to do if he calls you a baby for crying over your dragon that doesn't even exist?" asked the blonde lightning mage, only to jump back from a now angry Natsu covered in flames.

"I'm going to smash his face through the guilds wall." declared the little pyro with a scowl that showed off his fangs. But the next second he screamed out in pain as he was struck by Laxus' lightning covered fist that smacked him into the ground.

"That's what I was talking about Natsu, you can't just let your emotions distract you which could allow someone like me get the drop on you like that. Also if you do go ahead and just attack him even after he says something like that, I will no longer help you in your training." stated Laxus with a stern look sent at the boy now rubbing his bruised head.

"Fine, Erza would probably stop me anyways." he mumbled while still rubbing his head with a frown on his face.

"She would wouldn't she, actually I bet if you beat up Gray in your duel I'm confident she'll attack you to try and teach you a lesson of some sort. Kind of very hypocritical of her if you ask me." said Laxus as another plan started to form in his mind.

"It is stupid of her, I mean she's always telling me to stop fighting but then she goes and does that with Mira all the time." replied Natsu with a slightly angry look washing over his face. His comment made Laxus chuckle again to himself and made him realize that he might actually enjoy hanging out with the boy more often like he was soon going to be doing on a regular basis.

"I am definitely going to have a lot of work ahead of me when it comes to you and your vocabulary." he said as a look of horror came over Natsu, as the poor boy was remembering how his lessons with Erza went.

"Luckily for you that can wait until after I've trained you so hard you can barely stand. But before we do any of that we need to let Erza and the rest of the guild know that you aren't going to be pushed around by any of them anymore." stated the blonde with a grin that Natsu was soon replicating.

"And how am I going to do that?" asked Natsu while coming to a stop next to Laxus, who decided to stop so no one from the guild could accidentally listen in on their plans.

"If she does happen to attack you after you beat Gray, then you're just going to have to do the same thing you did to Gray to her." he answered as if it was the most obvious solution out there.

"But she's faster than me, I can never land a hit on her." pointed out Natsu with a slight frown, never being someone to actually admit that someone was stronger or better than him.

"For now that is, but you are correct about that being a problem." he said while scratching his chin and humming to himself for a little bit.

"Got it, what is one of Erza's major disadvantages?" he asked only to look at Natsu who had a completely clueless look on his face.

"She barely has any ranged moves, and the ones that she does have you can easily dodge. So you're going to beat her with a ranged move, like that dragon's roar I saw you do yesterday." he finished with a smug look.

"I usually prefer using my fists but I guess that could work." replied Natsu with a bright smile coming over his face only for it to quickly change into a frown.

"But I could really hurt her with my roar if I'm not careful." he pointed out.

"So what, it's not like she hasn't hurt you countless times before. Also she will have no right to attack you if all you did was just beat Gray in your duel, so Makarov can't punish you either for defending yourself. If anything this will just point out how bad he's been handling your whole situation since joining the guild." said Laxus with a really excited look in his eye, glad to have another thing to rub in his grandfather's face.

"Are you sure I won't get into trouble with Gramps?" asked Natsu, clearly still not on board with this whole using his roar on Erza.

"Positive, and if he tries to punish you I won't let him since like I just said you aren't doing anything wrong and are just protecting yourself." he finished with serious expression. But he could tell that Natsu was still a little uncomfortable with the idea of hurting Erza for some reason, so he decided to go about it a little different.

"Okay Natsu, if you are that afraid of hurting her then just stop your roar after it just hits her. You can do that right?" he asked, only for the little pink haired boy to be glaring up at him.

"Of course I can!" shouted Natsu while still glaring at Laxus.

"Good, now let's go to the guild and see how long it takes for that Popsicle to start all of this." declared Laxus he started to head towards the guild again with Natsu following right beside him.

Neither of them knew that their choices over these two days would change their lives in unexpected ways that even Makarov couldn't have predicted. Changes that would affect the guild's daily life in a few drastic ways, that some of the members would view as positive while the others didn't. And those that didn't would almost be willing to do anything to change it back to how it was before that fated day of July 7th X778.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading this story and giving it a chance. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now I would also like to give a shout out to a story that used to be on here that inspired me to write a story with Laxus taking Natsu under his wing. I think it used to be called Firebolt, but once again I don't know since I'm fairly sure that it was taken down for some reason. So on to the part where I ask your input on a few key details of this story, such as who do you think should be paired up with Natsu and would you even like to see a Laxus pairing. And if so, who would you like to see him paired with? Also I was planning on having it where the two both have an effect on the other's personality, like Laxus not being as distant as he is in canon. And Natsu not being as care free or idiotic as he usually is, with of course him being a lot stronger or at least acknowledged for his strength. Well those are my thoughts on this little story of mine, so feel free like always to send me a review or pm and I'll send one back to you as soon as I can.**

 **Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	2. The Son of Igneel

Ch 2: The Son of Igneel!

 **At the Fairy Tail guildhall before either of Laxus or Natsu have arrived:**

"That's almost as absurd as Flame Brain actually being trained by a dragon." scoffed Gray after he and the rest of the younger generation listened to Lisanna's tale of what some of them missed out on yesterday.

"Sorry Lisanna but I also find it really hard to believe that Laxus of all people would start training Natsu. Who better show up in the next few hours Gray." said Erza as she sent the ice mage a glare that was scary enough to even stop his weird stripping habit.

"Well it's true Red, I was right there when he and Makarov made their little bet." stated Mira with a smug smirk, always happy to rub something into her rival's face whenever the chance presented itself. And just like it always did with those two, they were once again in each other's face hurling insults back and forth. The rest of their group used these next few minutes to move away from the two girls before they inevitably started to fight each other like they always did.

"Even if it's true, there is no way Ash for Breath is ever going to become S-Class before me." stated the ice mage with a confident smirk, now that he was no longer receiving a deadly glare from a redheaded demon.

"Does that mean you're going to get a mentor as well?" asked Elfman with an intrigued look on his innocent face as he looked at Gray in the eyes.

"No way in hell Elfman, I don't need a mentor to beat that Little Matchstick. Only a weakling like him would do something as pathetic as getting help from someone like Laxus." he answered, and he could have sworn that he heard the faint roar of an enraged Natsu echo out in Magnolia right after he said that.

"Gray there isn't anything wrong with asking for help when you need it." stated Levy with a shy look, since she still wasn't used to the black haired boy always being in just his boxers for most of the day.

"I know that, but Flame Brain keeps claiming to be raised by that dragon of his all of the time. And if that was true then he shouldn't need any training from a normal human after going through something like that." he argued with a smug grin spread across his face. That was then covered by his clothes being tossed in his face by Cana, who didn't look too pleased with the ice mage.

"Gray shut up for once in your life, after what happened yesterday I thought that even you would lay off of him for a little while." she said while glaring at him.

"Why should I when he's the liar? And after yesterday he now knows that I'm not the only one that knows it, so hopefully we won't have to listen to any of his lame stories anymore." he said while putting his clothes back on with a small smirk. The ice mage expected the brunette to keep scolding him since Erza was too preoccupied at the moment, but instead she was looking at the doors with a shocked expression. Gray slowly turned around to see Natsu standing there with a blank expression on his face, which by itself was more than enough to get most of the guild worried about him. But even more shocking than that was the way he entered the guildhall, which was normal when compared to how he would usually kick the doors open and announce his return.

And what he did next only raised everyone's concern for him even higher, because without saying or even acknowledging anyone there he headed straight to the bar and ordered his usual meal. After which he just stayed there and waited patiently for the barmaid to return with it in a few minutes. All of this left the whole guild, except for two girls currently trying to kill each other; in a stunned silence that none of them wanted to break in fear of what might happen. Except for a certain silver haired girl that was the only one to stick up for the dragon slayer the other day and knew she had nothing to fear from him.

"Hi Natsu!" she said in a cheery tone as she took the stool next to him.

"Hi Lisanna, sorry about taking off like that yesterday without saying goodbye." he replied in an equally cheery tone as he scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin spread across his face.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad that you came back." she stated with a bright smile.

"Why wouldn't I come back?" he asked her with a confused expression that caused most of the guild to go back to normal since it seemed like he was still the same Natsu that they all knew.

"No reason, I just figured you might go off and train by yourself for a while is all." she answered with a brighter smile than before as the two started to talk like they usually did. Something that the two continued to do even after Natsu was given his food, which didn't stop him from talking with her while his mouth was ridiculously full with food. Usually Lisanna would have scolded him on his terrible table manners but she let it slide today since she was just glad that he seemed to be completely fine after the events of yesterday.

At least that is what everyone was thinking as they watched the two carry on like they usually did when it was just the two of them. And a certain ice mage noticed this as well and thought that it meant that he could also go back to treating the dragon slayer like he usually did. "You really shouldn't hang out with Flame Brain too much Lisanna, from what I've heard idiocy is contagious." stated Gray with a smirk, getting ready for Natsu to hurl some insults right back at him. But instead all that happened was Natsu continued to talk with Lisanna as if he hadn't heard Gray's insult at all.

This once again caused most of the guild to quiet down and start watching the dragon slayer with concern. "Oh is our Little Matchstick still upset after what happened yesterday?" he asked with a big grin, completely ignoring the glares that were being sent his way for bringing up yesterday already. And just like his last comment, Natsu completely ignored it and continued to talk with a really happy Lisanna. Who just like most of the members watching was impressed with him not blowing up like he usually did with the slightest insult tossed his way.

"Stop ignoring me Ash Breath!" he shouted while forcing Natsu to spin around on his stool and now be face to face with him.

"Then stop saying stupid things." replied Natsu as he turned away from Gray and tried to resume his conversation with Lisanna. But his rival had different plans for him as he spun him back around and was now glaring at him.

"Do you now think you're better than me for some reason Pinky?" Gray asked loudly, knowing that calling him that usually upset him more than the other ones for some reason.

"I don't think; I know I'm better than you Gray and if you wouldn't mind I'd like to go back to talking with Lisanna." he growled out, having a really hard time holding back from punching the annoying ice mage right then and there. The only reason he didn't was because he knew that would mean Laxus wouldn't help him become a better mage like they talked about last night and this morning.

Needless to say this caused most of the members at the guild to have all sorts of shocked expressions. None more so than Gray, who just heard that his rival pretty much didn't see him as one anymore and thought that he was beneath him now. **"ICE MAKE: FIST!"** shouted Gray as ice formed over his right fist that he then threw at Natsu's back hoping to change the dragon slayer's mind with a quick fight.

The only problem with his little plan was that he needed to start a fight with him, which seemed to be something that the dragon slayer didn't intend to do. Instead of taking the hit like he usually would have done, Natsu spun out of the way and was now looking at Gray with a bored expression that really irked the boy. So much so that Gray charged at Natsu again who only kept dodging his attacks just barely as the ice mage destroyed whatever was behind his target.

"I'm not going to fight you unless you challenge me to a duel Gray." stated Natsu after Gray pulled back to catch his breath.

"What the hell is wrong with you Flame Brain? That never stopped you before." he shouted back, upset that he couldn't land a hit on him.

"I've just realized that our fights were pointless since I never actually tried to win." responded Natsu, actually getting a shocked gasp from a few of the people that were watching Gray trying to attack him as he only continued to dodge them all.

"There you go again, lying through your damn teeth just like you did about that fake dragon of yours." he spat out, knowing that he was told by Erza earlier this morning that he couldn't bring that up again around Natsu. And for a few seconds he and everyone else thought the fire dragon slayer was going to lose it and start fighting Gray right then and there as his face contorted to one of absolute anger. But to everyone's surprise it faded away as quickly as it formed and Natsu once again had a blank expression that still seemed so wrong on the usually smiling boy.

"The only way for you to find out if you're correct about that first one Gray is to do an official duel with me." stated Natsu as he turned away from him and started heading back to a completely stunned Lisanna.

"Fine!" he shouted out, and was happy to see Natsu stop in his tracks and slowly turn back to him with a small grin spread across his lips.

"Well we should definitely take this outside so I don't accidentally take down the whole guildhall." replied Natsu, causing those that weren't interested in the two's unusual spat before this point to now have their full attention.

"Just keep psyching yourself up with those lies of yours you Flaming Moron." he said as the two headed towards the back exit. Unfortunately for the two a certain two girls just so happened to have a lull in their fight just as Gray agreed to have a duel like Natsu wanted.

"You two aren't going to be fighting each other are you?" asked Erza as she glared at the two of them, instantly causing Gray to start thinking of some way to get out of this as he shook in fear. While Natsu on the other hand didn't even flinch from her glare or start cowering like he usually would in situations like this one.

"Yes we are Erza, Gray decided to challenge me to a duel and were heading outside so we don't accidentally destroy any more of the guild than you and Mira already have." he replied as he walked past the now completely stunned knight, as Mira broke into laughter after witnessing all of this.

"What was that Natsu?" she asked in a menacing tone as an equally menacing aura started to surround her.

"I said we're having a fight like you just asked us, which is perfectly fine since it's in the guild's rule book or something. Or are you going to break the rules Erza, and stop the two of us from having a friendly duel?" he asked while opening the back door and stopping in it to look back at her. All eyes were on Erza, waiting to see how she would respond to someone actually standing up to her besides Mira and Laxus. Not only that but also going so far as to tell her why she couldn't force them to do as she wanted them to.

"Are you coming or not Gray?" asked Natsu with an impatient look on his face, Gray decided that he might as well go and fight him since Erza seemed to be stuck in her current location. And if she did recover from her shock he along with the rest of the guild knew that her anger would be focused on a certain pink haired boy that embarrassed her in front of the whole guild just now.

"Damn Tin Can, who would've thought that Pinky could put you in your place so easily." laughed Mira as she walked past Erza to go watch the duel just like the rest of the guild. This left Erza all by herself at least that was what she thought, until Makarov came up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's just going to be a friendly fight Erza, there's nothing for you to worry about." he said before actually leaving her all to herself.

"I just don't want anyone to get hurt." she mumbled to herself before also heading out to watch the fight with everyone else.

 **Outside in a large clearing behind the guild:**

"So I want to once again stress that there will be no killing blows." stated Makarov as he gave the two participants stern glares. "And the fight will only end when one of you can no longer keep fighting or if one of you admits defeat." something that he and everyone else knew wasn't going to happen with these two fighting each other in an actual dual as everyone else was watching.

"We've got it Gramps, I just can't wait to finally cut loose for once." replied Natsu with his usual toothy grin, which would have usually made Makarov confident that nothing bad would happen. But unfortunately what he just heard from the dragon slayer made him actually concerned for Gray since Natsu easily had more raw magic power than anyone around his age. All the boy really needed to do was learn how to control it properly and Makarov had no doubt that he would become a great mage, which he hoped Laxus could help him with.

"I've got it too Master." replied Gray with a confident smirk. Something that Makarov had a really strong feeling the boy wouldn't have for very long if Natsu was in fact serious about cutting loose in this fight. But that was just something that Gray would have to deal with, because right now Makarov was wondering what Laxus was up to with all of this. Since he knew for a matter of fact that Natsu would have never done any of this on his own since he always let his emotions control his actions.

"If that's the case then, Fight!" he declared while bringing his arm down to signal the start of their duel. And who knows what number it was over the last two days, but Natsu once again shocked them all by not charging straight at Gray like he usually did in all of their previous fights.

"Are you sure you really want to see me go all out Gray?" asked Natsu still grinning from ear to ear.

"Of course I do Flame Brain, so when I mop the floor with you I can enjoy…" Gray started to reply only for him to cough up some spit as he was sent flying back five feet from a punch to his chest.

"We'll see about that Gray." he said no longer grinning and glaring intensely at Gray as his whole body was now covered in his orange flames. And before Gray could even think of anything else to say back he had to roll away from another attack sent his way, which was one of Natsu's Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. A move that Gray was quite familiar with, but looking back at the place he used to be standing at he was shocked to see a small crater appear after the dust settled.

And he wasn't the only one shocked by this display of power from their resident pink haired fire mage, who was standing in it and still glaring at Gray. "This would have been easier on you if you had just let me finish you off with that move." he stated while getting out of the crater he just made and heading towards his stunned opponent.

"What the hell was that?" asked a slightly terrified Gray.

"Me going at half power, **FIRE DRAGON'S SWORD HORN!** " shouted Natsu before launching at the still stunned Gray with fire shooting from his feet that propelled him faster than anyone expected. The rest of the guild watched as a flame covered Natsu head butted Gray straight in the chest and sent him tumbling back a few yards, making all of them think that a hit like that meant the end of the fight.

"Just stay down Gray, I'm out of your league when I don't have to hold back." stated Natsu as Gray got back up on his feet with a few coughs. It was also at this point that a few of the members, Gray included, noticed that Natsu was actually calling him by his real name.

"Like hell I will Charcoal Breath, I'm only getting started. **ICE MAKE: LANCE!** " he shouted back as a barrage of five spears composed of ice were sent flying at the dragon slayer. Who dodged the first three and parried the last two as he made his way towards the person responsible for sending them at him.

"The same can be said for me, **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** " shouted Natsu as he jumped in the air at Gray with a flaming fist cocked back. **"ICE MAKE: HAMMER!"** countered Gray as a large hammer formed in his hands that he swung upwards at the flaming fist heading his way. This caused a large cloud of steam to instantly form and obstruct the view of the two fighters from the cheering spectators, who could tell that this fight was going to be a good one.

They all quieted down to try and hear what was possibly going on just past the steam where none of them could see at the moment. They could make out a few grunts and the distinctive sounds of someone getting hit, which was followed by more grunts and other noises of someone in pain. **"FIRE DRAGON'S GRIP STRIKE!"** bellowed Natsu as a large explosion of fire blasted out of his hand and blew away the steam to reveal the two of them. And most of the spectators were shocked to see Natsu looking completely fine while Gray on the other hand had a few more wounds and other injuries, but what worried them the most was that he was currently in the grasp of Natsu's hand that just unleashed all of those flames.

"Holy crap, he's actually beating the crap out of Gray like he said he would." said Wakaba with a shocked expression.

"Yeah he is, while also not taking any damage." pointed out Macao as Natsu tossed Gray to the other side of the clearing.

"Does that mean he really has been holding back all this time?" asked a random member as the rest of the members started to discuss this while not taking their eyes off of the ongoing fight. There were two girls that found this revelation more disturbing than the rest since they had both gotten into fights with the dragon slayer before. And every time they did they beat him without any problems, but after seeing him right now and the magic coming off of him at the moment they were starting to wonder if they actually would have won if he took it seriously like he currently is with Gray.

"You should just give up Gray." stated Natsu as he started to walk towards the downed ice mage.

"Fat chance, you'll have to knock me out because I'll never admit that you're stronger than me." declared Gray as he got into a kneeling position.

"I guess that just means I'll have to hurt you more than I already have." he replied with a smirk as the flames on his arms grew in intensity. Upon hearing this Erza looked around and could tell that most of the members were concerned for Gray, but none of them were going to do anything to help him out at the moment. She could only think of two options for this situation, one that she knew both of the boys would be completely against. While the other one wasn't much better, but neither of them would argue against Makarov if he called off the fight like she hoped he would.

 **"ICE MAKE: FLOOR!"** shouted Gray just as Natsu started to pick up his pace, meaning he wasn't ready for all of his traction to be lost in that split second. Resulting in the dragon slayer to fall flat on his back and slide past a now smirking Gray as he shakily got to his feet.

"I'm far from out just yet Flame Brain." he said while getting into his maker stance. Glad to have finally at least done something to his rival that was attacking him like he had never done before, but it was soon gone as he watched in shocked amazement as all of his ice started disappearing rapidly around Natsu.

"Using a stupid move like that just pisses me off Gray." stated Natsu now completely covered in his orange flames as he got back up to his feet. "And I won't let something as embarrassing as that ever happen to me again, **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FISTS!** " he shouted as both of his fist were now covered flames that were a darker orange than before.

 **"ICE MAKE: WALL!"** shouted the ice mage as a wall of ice sprung up between them, hoping to buy himself some more time to figure out exactly what he was supposed to do to even stand a chance against Natsu right now. But those hopes were dashed to bits as his wall of ice exploded sending shards of ice blasting away from a pink haired boy that still looked pissed.

"Master you need to call this fight." said Erza as she came up to the elderly titan mage.

"Sorry Erza but I can't do that right now, both of them are still willing to fight." he stated as Gray shouted **"ICE MAKE: SHIELD!"** to try and block a punch thrown at him. But the shout of pain that followed after it let Erza know without even looking that Natsu broke straight through it, just like he did with Gray's wall before.

"Why not, if we wait any longer Gray's going to get seriously hurt." she argued while giving him a stern look.

"So you're saying that Natsu is going to win this?" asked Makarov while finally looking away from the fight and at the red head in front of him. And he was shocked to see the usually calm knight have a look of distress on her face as she stared back at him.

"Yes I do, anyone can see that Gray doesn't stand a chance anymore. Natsu looks like he's just warming up and has been messing with him up until now." she answered while quickly glancing over her shoulder to witness Natsu land a series of Fire Dragon's Iron Fists on Gray. Each one causing the ice mage more damage than the last one, and weakening his guard that Natsu wasn't really having much of a problem getting through.

Makarov was actually thinking the same thing from what he saw so far, and if that was indeed true. Then it meant that Natsu had more magic than he originally gave him credit for, or possibly the pink haired brat was doing a lot more training on his own than he thought. Either way, it just meant that Natsu was only going to get stronger as he grew up and it wouldn't surprise Makarov if the boy eventually became a Wizard Saint like himself one day.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!"** shouted Natsu, causing Makarov to look up from Erza and watch a slightly burnt Gray hit the ground hard. Most mages after receiving a beat down like Gray currently is would have definitely stayed down after a hit like that, but not Gray. He once again started to get back to his feet, which made Makarov proud to have a mage like him, that wouldn't give up even if the odds were against him.

"Do you see that Erza?" he asked while looking back to her, knowing that she was also watching exactly what he did.

"Yes, but all I'm seeing right now is two friends pointlessly fighting and hurting each other." she replied with a displeased look on her face.

"You're correct, but you're missing Gray's determination to prove that he is still Natsu's rival." he pointed out as Gray was once again hit to the other side of the clearing by Natsu.

"Well that's just stupid, if he keeps it up he'll get seriously hurt or worse." she stated while giving the two boys currently fighting a glare that neither of them saw. And if they had it wouldn't have stopped either of them from finishing what they were currently doing.

"You need to have more faith in both of them Erza, especially Natsu since he's been able to hold back this whole time, ever since he joined the guild." he said with a grin, thinking that his plan was definitely work at making Natsu into a better mage. All he had to do was see if Natsu was already having a positive effect on his grandson like he hoped he would.

"Okay Master, but why was he holding back until now?" she asked while giving him a questioning look with an eyebrow raised.

"Because I asked him to, just look at what he is capable of doing when he isn't." he answered while giving a little wave to the battlefield thatalready had craters all over it now. And if there had been any sort of building where the two were currently fighting there wouldn't have been one for much longer.

"Give up Gray, I felt your arm break on that last hit of mine you tried to block." stated Natsu as Gray once again miraculously got back up to his feet while clutching one of his arms with the other.

"Never Pinky!" coughed out Gray as he swayed a little bit and looked ready to fall over any second.

"Have it your way then Gray." he replied as he started to build up a large amount of his magic catching the attention of the two that were just discussing the possibility of calling the fight.

"With a flame on the right hand…" he said as those deeper shade of orange flames formed on his right hand. "And a flame on the left hand…" he continued as the same thing happened to his left hand. "When you combine the flames together…" he said in a louder voice as he brought his hands together. " **FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!** " he shouted as the two flames became a significantly larger one that he proceeded to hurl at Gray, who could only stare at the move heading straight at him.

A large fiery explosion erupted from the origin of Gray with enough force to cause most of the on lookers to stagger backwards and almost fall over. None of them being able to comprehend what they just witnessed from their usually overly hyperactive and goofy pink haired fire mage. But once they finally snapped out of the shock they all started to grow concerned for Gray who was on the receiving end of such a strong spell while already extremely injured.

"The fight is over." stated Makarov from inside the cloud of dust and smoke that resulted from Natsu's last attack. This of course surprised everyone but a select few that saw the elderly guild Master dash in at the last second and block Gray from receiving that last attack thrown his way. As the smoke and dust finally settled down they saw Gray sitting on the ground with Makarov standing in front of him giving Natsu a stern look. But the most shocking part of all this for everyone and mostly Laxus were the small trenches that Makarov made with his feet while blocking that last spell from the pink haired boy in front of him.

"NATSU!" shouted Erza, being one of the first to recover from her shock and charged at the boy in rage with a sword already drawn.

"What?" he snapped back as he turned just in time to lean backwards and only receive a horizontal cut along his left cheek. This was more than enough to get him into the correct mindset as he had to dodge three more slashes from the enraged red head glaring at him.

"Erza!" shouted Makarov, hoping to stop her before Natsu started to fight back. But unfortunately it fell on deaf ears as she continued to savagely attack Natsu for a few reasons. The main reason for her being how close he came to seriously hurting Gray, if not killing him with that last attack of his. And the other ones being his complete disregard when she told them not to fight, which then also turned into him embarrassing her in front of the rest of the guild.

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!" she shouted while still relentlessly attacking him. And she was only ever able to land a punch or kick after that first attack of hers, with all of her other slashes only just barely cutting the occasional hole in his outfit.

"He wouldn't stay down." growled out Natsu as he continued to dodge her attacks, waiting for her to finally stop so that he could distance himself from her like he and Laxus planned.

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE!" she shouted back.

"Than what's yours?" he asked while jumping back and giving her an intense glare. He was slightly caught off guard when she stopped in her tracks and looked at him with a blank expression.

"My what?" she finally asked still ready to charge at him in a moment's notice and start fighting again.

"Your reason for almost killing me?" he asked her again while pointing to the cut on his cheek.

"I wasn't trying to kill you." she shouted back, upset that he thought she was.

"And I wasn't trying to kill Gray either!" he shouted as his magic started to flare up in his anger at the woman getting upset with him when she was doing the exact same thing as him.

"We all saw that last attack of yours Natsu." she stated while gesturing behind her to where Makarov and Gray were still at.

"Your point?" he asked with a confused yet angry expression.

"If Master hadn't stepped in like he did than Gray would have died!" she shouted as her eye started to twitch because of how dense he was being in her opinion at the moment.

"No he wouldn't have, it just would have knocked him out for probably a week. Something that can't be said about that first attack of yours, which you did without any warning Erza!" he shouted back, now really upset with her and no longer having a problem with hurting her like he did yesterday.

"I knew you would dodge like you did." she replied in not so confident tone.

"Just like I knew Gray would also be fine if he had gotten hit by my last attack." he stated, thinking that she might actually realize they were arguing the same point.

"But you couldn't have known that." she stated once again having an angry expression coming over her face as she looked him dead in the eyes.

"And neither could you, man you're being such a hypocrite right now." said Natsu as he shook his head. Not knowing that he was actually using the word correctly in that last sentence, what he meant when he said that to her was that it was stupid of her to not see how they were doing the same thing right now. This of course wasn't known by anyone other than Laxus, who was too busy enjoying all of it at the moment to let anyone else know what Natsu thought that word meant.

So for about the umpteenth time today alone, most of the members of Fairy Tail were left speechless at something that Natsu did. Not only did he somehow not get pummeled by Erza just now, but he also actually pointed out how they were doing the same thing and used a word correctly that some of the other younger members like Gray and the younger Strauss siblings didn't even know yet.

"He's got you there Red." giggled Mira, who just like Laxus was enjoying all of this at the moment. Unfortunately this pushed Erza past her point of reason; she could handle being proven wrong if she was in fact wrong like she was right now. But what she couldn't handle was Mira rubbing it in her face like she knew the white haired demon would do and also enjoy constantly bringing it up since it was Natsu of all people doing it to her.

"You'll pay for that Natsu!" she screamed while charging him in a blind rage. Natsu was extremely confused at what he did to all of a sudden cause Erza to charge at him like she was since it looked like she might have been starting to see reason there for a few seconds. But just like flipping a switch she was charging at him with the intent of pummeling him into the ground like there was no tomorrow, something that he decided yesterday he was done with. Especially by one of his fellow guild members, who would just minutes later go and get into a fight which was what she claimed her reason for beating him and Gray up was.

So as she charged at him, Natsu got into a stance that caused Makarov's eyes to widen in surprise and was about to once again stop Natsu from landing one of his stronger attacks. But before he could, Laxus appeared in front of him in a bolt of lightning that threw the elderly guild Master off guard just long enough for Natsu to complete his move on the unsuspecting Erza.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!"** he bellowed as a huge amount of flames gushed from his mouth and straight at Erza, who was just a step away from being able to hit Natsu with the flat side of her sword. Since she couldn't deny that if he hadn't dodged that first attack of hers, he definitely would at least be in a critical state right now. But little did she know that he had no intentions of ever letting her get that close to him ever again, especially after they now had some distance between them.

They all watched in awe as Erza was just able to bring her arms and sword up in a protective stance before she was completely engulfed in a torrent of orange flames that seemed to have no end in sight. When in all actuality they only lasted for a few seconds since Natsu wasn't trying to kill her or anything like that. He was just fed up with her always attacking him after doing something that no one but her considered wrong, and she even did the exact same thing with Mira all of the time. Halfway through his roar Erza let out a scream of pain and the rest of the guild was shocked to watch her come flying backwards out of the flames and come tumbling to a stop.

"NATSU!" shouted Makarov as Erza was struggling to get back up thanks to that last attack of his.

"What Gramps, she's the one that attacked me for no reason." he said back in a terrified tone, because if it looked like Makarov was upset with him before after what he did to Gray, then that was nothing compared to the look he was currently receiving from the elderly guild Master.

This response actually caught Makarov off guard, since it was in fact true that Natsu didn't start the fight with Erza and he actually didn't even attack back until just then. He was about to ask the fire dragon slayer what in the world was he thinking attacking Erza with a move like that, but before he could he noticed the smile that Laxus was sending Natsu's way. And just like that he realized that this all most likely went according to his grandson's plan, a plan where Natsu never actually did anything wrong and was only protecting himself from Erza and having a sanctioned fight with Gray that was officially approved.

So letting out a sigh, Makarov recomposed himself to make sure that he had a clear head so that things didn't start going sideways from here on out. "Yes you're right, but that doesn't mean you should have used such a strong move on her." he stated with a concerned expression while quickly looking over at Erza who was being helped up by Cana. Letting all of them see that the armor she always wore was completely destroyed and she was lucky that Natsu stopped when he did, otherwise she would have been toasted.

"She wasn't going to stop Gramps, she would have been just like Gray and kept getting back up and coming for my head." he replied, no longer having a slight tremble in his voice thanks to Makarov no longer looking at him with that disapproving look he had before.

"He's got a point there, we both know Erza is just as stubborn as him if not more." chimed in Laxus with a smug grin as Erza glared at him from the sidelines. "Also I find it odd that you didn't rush in to save Natsu from Erza as she went for his head there at the beginning." he said, causing Natsu's eyes to go wide in surprise while Makarov gave him a deadly glare.

"That's because I knew Natsu was fine and not in a weakened state like Gray was." stated Makarov, not liking what it seemed like his grandson was trying to do.

"But what if I didn't notice her Gramps?" asked Natsu who was now glaring at Makarov, something that the pink haired boy had never done to him after their first meeting that resulted with him eventually joining Fairy Tail.

"Yeah Grandpa!" added Laxus as he walked over to Natsu's side and smiled at his grandpa smugly.

"If that had happened I would have noticed you not responding to her presence and stepped in. But given your enhanced senses I was fairly sure that wasn't going to be the case." he replied with a serious face, since if Laxus got what he wanted then this could very easily be how he and Natsu would start drifting apart.

"Okay, that makes sense I guess." replied Natsu with a grin after a few seconds of thinking it over with himself. This caused Makarov to let out a small sigh of relief as a small sneer formed on Laxus's lips as he watched Makarov grin along with Natsu like a pair of idiots.

"Now back to you no longer using such strong moves on your own guild members." he stated as his face once again became serious as he looked into the fire dragon slayer's onyx eyes.

"And why in the world would he do that? I don't think you've ever told any other member of the guild to hold back like you are trying to do once again with Natsu." questioned Laxus, which caused Makarov's eyebrow to twitch in frustration. Not because Laxus was raising a valid point, but because the main reason he told Natsu to hold back was due to the boy's rash nature which he knew could easily lead to countless bills being sent their way.

"So that he can learn how to control all of that power." argued Makarov, who Natsu was waiting for to hear his response. After which he quickly turned to Laxus to see if that was an okay reason for him to keep holding back.

"And the only real way for him to actually learn that is for him to actually use it. Otherwise if he ever needs to go all out, something terrible might happen because of it. Let's say possibly hurting other guild members that he was actually trying to protect." he replied with a smug grin, which was not shared by his younger dragon slayer who now had a look of horror on his face as he pictured Lisanna being the person hurt by him.

"I'm not holding back anymore!" Natsu suddenly shouted out while looking at Makarov with a determined look. "I don't want to hurt anyone from the guild, even if it's by accident." he stated.

"That's awful funny coming from you after what you just did to Gray and Red." said Mira with a sly grin, which she lost when Natsu turned to look at her with a glare that none of them have ever really seen on him before.

"Gray got that hurt because he was too stupid to admit that I was stronger than him. And Erza only got hurt because she was trying to hurt me for no good reason, which I'll do to anyone else after today if they try to attack me like she did today." he said while mainly looking at her, letting her know that she wouldn't be treated any differently than Erza was.

"Natsu that isn't how we treat each other at Fairy Tail." stated Makarov in a kind tone as he came up to the teen.

"Why are you saying that to me Gramps, I'm only going to be doing what they were trying to do to me." he asked with slightly confused look.

"I'm saying this to you because you made it sound like you were going to go all out like you just did if someone starts a fight with you." replied Makarov, wanting to make sure that he and Natsu completely understood each other on this.

"Like in one of the guild brawls?" he asked, getting a nod of confirmation from his Master. "Of course I won't go all out in those Gramps, those are supposed to just be for fun. But I won't hold back if Erza or Mira tries to punish me over fighting in the guild hall like they do with each other every day. Or because I did something they think was stupid and want to teach me a lesson, in situations like those I won't be pushed around anymore." he declared, while giving a glare to the three people that would most likely do something like that to him. Well two actually, he really didn't think Gray would do anything like that to him, but after today he suspected that the ice mage would probably challenge him to another official duel after he did some intensive training on his own.

This caused Makarov to let out another long sigh, but he really couldn't blame the boy for no longer putting up with any of that stuff anymore. And it was actually amazing that he put up with it for almost a year already, just like Laxus pointed out the other day. "I guess if those are the only times you're going at full power against your fellow guild members I don't have a problem with it. But if you start using it against them during a different time then we're going to have to have a long discussion Natsu." said Makarov as another confused expression came over Natsu's face.

"Why would I go all out against one of them if they weren't trying to do something like that to me?" he asked, honestly not being able to come up with any other reason to go all out against a fellow guild member.

"Possibly during another duel." suggested Laxus, who thought it would be a good idea for Natsu to possibly spar with some of the stronger members like Mira and Erza occasionally. Just so that he wouldn't get used to only going up against him when they started to train together after this was all wrapped up.

"Oh yeah, can I go at max power then Gramps?" he asked with an excited look that brought a smile to Makarov's face. Makarov really should have known that Natsu wasn't the kind of person to start misusing his power now that he no longer had to hold back.

"As long as they are okay with it as well." answered Makarov still smiling at the pink haired teen that was rejoicing at being given the go ahead.

"Well now that we've got all of that out of the way, let's get started on that training of yours Natsu." said Laxus since it seemed to him at least that his grandfather didn't have anything else to say about what just transpired with Natsu and the two that he easily took out.

"Hell yeah!" cheered Natsu while jumping around excitedly. Making some of the older members wonder if this was still the same kid that just moments ago beat Gray mercilessly, and took Erza out of commission with just a single one of his moves.

"Wait just one minute you two." said Makarov before the two could even start to leave.

"What is it grandpa?" asked Laxus in irritated tone, as Natsu just looked at him waiting for Makarov to continue.

"Where are you two going to be training at, and for how long will you be gone for?" he asked with a slightly concerned look on his as he looked at the two of them.

"All over the place gramps, and it will probably just be for a month this time at least." answered Laxus with a grin as a look of shock spread over Natsu's face since this was the first he had heard of this.

"That should be okay as long as you two keep in contact with us, but before you two go Natsu should have that new cut of his looked at." he said while gesturing at the still open cut on the dragon slayer's left cheek. Something that apparently the teen completely forgot about with everything else that was going on with him over the last few minutes.

"I could just seal it with my fire." offered Natsu as he lit his left hand on fire and started to do as he suggest until he was hit in the hand by a small spark of lightning.

"Just go to the infirmary and have it checked out properly." said Laxus as he shook his head at him, surprised that he was so ready to seal it up like that. Something the boy was probably taught by his dragon to do if he was all on his own and didn't know if anyone would be able to help him quickly.

Both of the Dreyars watched Natsu race into the guild and disappear from sight along with most of the other guild members. "If you're only doing this because you're bored and only want to prove me wrong then I should stop it now before you get tired of him. Or god forbid something bad happens while the two of you are off training who knows where." stated Makarov as he looked at his grandson with a deadly serious look on his wrinkled face.

"I'll admit that it might have just started out for those reasons, but after what he showed me today I honestly think he could possibly become one of the guild's strongest members in a few years. He's also already starting to grow on me after interacting with him since yesterday, but if you tell him or anyone else that I'll deny it." replied Laxus with a faint smile that turned to a glare towards the end. And he was really starting to regret saying that last part thanks to the huge grin he was now getting from his grandfather.

"That secret is safe with me Laxus, just make sure that both of you come back in one piece." he said while heading to the guild still grinning like an enormous idiot.

"Stupid meddling old fool." mumbled Laxus as he went into the guild to grab his gear and new protégée that should be patched up any second now.

 **End of chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! So I also wanted to say I'm shocked that this story already has over a hundred favorites and followers each, which is at least impressive for me since I only had just one chapter up for it until now. And along with that I got over fifty reviews as well, kind of makes me concerned that I might disappoint you later on which is something that I really don't want to do. Well now that I've got my shock over how much support this story has already gotten let's move onto what I usually have in these notes of mine, which are questions that I like hearing all of your opinions on. So my first question is how long do you want me to spend on Laxus and Natsu training together if at all? Also how long do you want me to come up with my own things, or would you rather I get to the events in canon as quick as I can? Since this story as you should all be able to tell by now will be quite different for some pretty obvious reasons. Oh and my final question is something that a reviewer suggested and I actually thought might not be too bad of an idea. And that is, should I even have a definite pairing in this story? Of course that could be interpreted a few different ways, so rather than going into great detail on here I'll just let you ask me in a review or PM and I'll be more than happy to explain more. As always don't hesitate to leave a review or PM.**

 **Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	3. Training With Laxus

Ch 3: Training With Laxus

 **July 8th X778 at Fairy Tail inside of the infirmary:**

Currently sitting on the edge of one of the many beds in the infirmary was Natsu Dragneel. And just from one look at him you could easily see how excited the boy was, just barely being able to stay still as one of the older female guild members was looking over the fresh wound that he now had on his left cheek. A wound that he only got because of the scarlet haired girl lying in the bed next to him, who he knew didn't actually want to hurt him and only suffered with the same problem that he did. A problem that he'd hopefully be able to fix with Laxus over the next month, which was letting his emotions get the better of him.

"It's hard to say for certain as of right now, but there's a really good chance that this might scar." replied the lady after placing the last bandage on his cut. Upon hearing this Erza turned away from him hoping that he would leave before she felt even worse than she already did. Unfortunately for her this didn't go unnoticed by the person she was hoping to avoid at the moment.

"That's fine; I don't really mind having a few of those. Even Igneel had some, and he told me that they'll help you make sure that you never make the same mistake again." stated Natsu with one of his toothy grins directed at the lady who could only smile back at him.

The only other male currently in the room let out a little scoff at hearing this, which was honestly something he did out of sheer habit. Because if Gray was honest to himself the last thing he wanted right now was to upset his rival that thoroughly trashed him just a few minutes earlier today. Luckily for him Natsu decided to let it slide, probably because he was concerned about the other person he sent to the infirmary today.

"Glad to hear Natsu, and might I say congratulations on your match today." said the lady while still giving him a smile.

"Thanks." he replied while hopping off of the bed since she was done looking at his only real injury. "So does this mean I'm free to go?" he asked her with an expectant looking coming over his face. That once again turned to one of his usual grins as she nodded her head yes to his question. "Alright, I've got some training to do!" he cheered, once again ignoring the scoff that came from the ice mage in the bed farthest from him.

"Well good luck with that Natsu, but make sure that you don't work yourself too hard." she said while watching him head to the door.

"Okay." he replied while stopping at the door. "Oh and Erza, I know you were only trying to look out for Gray. So no hard feelings?" he asked while turning around to look at her as she remained turned away from him on the bed. And he waited in front of the door for a few minutes of awkward silence, only for a frown to come over his face as he finally left the infirmary.

"That was extremely rude of you, especially when it should have been you that was trying to make sure that things were alright between the two of you." stated the lady as she glared at Erza. Only to quickly leave once the scarlet haired knight started to glare back at her with a menacing aura now surrounding her.

One that she lost almost as soon as the other woman was gone and she curled back up in her bed, knowing that she was completely in the wrong. But after everything else that happened today she couldn't handle admitting that out loud to the person that caused everything else to go wrong for her. She had to try and keep whatever little respect she still had in the guild at all costs, even if it might hurt him right now. Which she could only think might be for the best, since she decided after escaping that horrible place that she would never be hurt like that again. Even if it meant that she might be seen sometimes as a cold and heartless person, so long as she didn't have to experience something like that ever again it would be worth it in her opinion.

"I can't believe that he actually beat both of us." mumbled Gray while letting out a little grown as he turned to look at his current roommate.

"Shut up Gray." was her curt response, since she definitely didn't feel like talking with him about it.

"Geeze, I was only trying to start up a conversation." he replied in a quiet voice while turning away from her.

"This only happened because of you." she said in a slightly upset tone that the ice mage easily picked up on.

"How in the hell is this, my fault?" he asked her back while quickly turning back to glare at her. Which was something that he instantly regretted, since his body then screamed out in protest at such a foolish decision.

"If you hadn't called him out on Igneel not being real then none of this would have happened." she answered in the same tone, choosing to not look at him even though she could feel his eyes on her.

"Well I didn't make the rest of you agree with me, that's on you and everyone else." he argued back with a glare sent at the back of her head.

"Just keep quiet so I can try and get some rest." she mumbled back, meanwhile wondering how much the guild was going to change after the events of the last two days.

 **With Natsu after exiting the infirmary:**

The first thing Natsu noticed after closing the door behind him was that the guildhall became quieter than it usually was. And upon turning back around he could see that it was because of him, most of the members were silently staring at him. Why they were staring at him, he had no clue, but he knew for sure that he didn't like this type of attention. So with a slightly forced grin he descended the stairs with the intention of leaving the guild so he could go and pack a few of his things he might need for the next month.

But before he could, a few of the members around his age got in between him and the exit. The group consisted of: Lisanna, Levy, Elfman and Cana, making the only ones missing from the discussion that started all of this from the other day: Mira, Droy and Jet. Mira could be seen off to the side, intently watching the small group with a keen eye for some reason. While the other two weren't anywhere to be seen and now that Natsu thought about it he hadn't seen either of them at all today.

"You did great Natsu!" cheered Lisanna as she came up to him and gave him a quick hug. Only for her to have a slight pout come over her face as she looked at the bandage under his left eye. "Does it hurt?" she asked in a concerned tone that made the young dragon slayer feel bad about making her worry over him.

"Thanks, and I've definitely had worse. Just imagine how it feels to have a giant tail smash you into the ground for not listening." he replied with a genuine grin spread across his face as the youngest Strauss smiled at him after hearing this.

"I can only imagine." she said with a smile that slowly turned to a slight frown since the rumor currently going around the guild was that he and Laxus were going to be gone for the next month. Something that she knew he was extremely excited about, but she couldn't help but feel sad since she knew it meant that they weren't going to see each other during that time.

"Is something wrong Lisanna?" Natsu asked after noticing the slight frown that his best friend tried her hardest to hide from him.

"No, I'm just worried about your training with Laxus." she replied knowing that despite what everyone else thought about the dragon slayer. He was definitely one of the most perceptive members and could always tell when something was off with one of them. Unfortunately, because of his lack of knowledge on humans he didn't always know what to do when he took notice of them acting differently.

"Don't worry about it, Laxus is an S-Class mage and I've already had Igneel and Erza as teachers so this should be easy." he stated with a toothy grin, hoping to reassure her. While also swearing that he heard a slight scoff when he mentioned Laxus' training being easy.

"I'm with Lisanna on this one, Laxus is definitely a strong mage but I don't really know how good he'll be at training someone." voiced Cana with a slightly concerned look on her face. This caught Natsu off guard since he didn't even know that the brunette cared about him enough to worry about his wellbeing like this. That wasn't to say that the two disliked each other at all, but he could have sworn that he saw her slightly glaring at him a month ago when he first met Gildarts and hung out with the man for the next few days after losing a fight with him.

"I'll be fine, and why do you even care?" he asked her back, only to get hit on the shoulder by Lisanna who was currently glaring at him.

"Because we're all worried about you." stated Lisanna while still giving him a glare that didn't really affect him.

"Really?" he said with a questioning look directed at the rest of the group that stopped him from leaving the guild. With him finally stopping on the guild's up and coming card mage who was already making a name for herself in fortune telling.

"Yeah." said Cana feeling slightly embarrassed with the intense look he was currently giving her.

"Thanks I guess, but it feels like you're not saying the full truth." he replied with a slight smirk, not knowing how true he actually was. And right now he was still intent on leaving the guild so he could go and get ready for his training, and because of that he also didn't notice the slight look of shock the brunette was giving him.

"Is that true Cana?" asked Levy in a whisper as she looked over at her with a questioning look.

"It is, I also wanted to apologize for everything that happened yesterday." she answered the bookworm back in a whisper as well. Since she currently lost the little courage she needed to say it out loud to the pink haired boy that was now giving her one of his signature grins.

"Then you're forgiven, Cana, and so is everyone else." stated Natsu to the two girls' shock since they were confident that he couldn't have heard him.

"What are you talking about Natsu?" asked Lisanna with a confused expression coming over her adorable face.

"That I've forgiven everyone who thought Igneel isn't real." he replied still having that grin of his.

"Really, are you sure you aren't just saying that?" asked Elfman, who probably felt the worst out of their little group due to his kind disposition that was a stark contrast to his older sister.

"Positive, I realized today that it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks because I know he's real. And I'm going to find him one day if it's the last thing I do." declared the dragon slayer with a determined glint in his eyes.

"Even if you say that Natsu, I still feel like we should apologize." stated Levy while nervously playing with her foot and not being able to look at him directly.

"It's okay, I promise, so unless there's something else you guys need to talk to me about? I should really get back to my place so I can start packing." he said with his right hand over his heart at the beginning and a serious expression on his visage. Only for it to turn to an extremely excited one as he started to think about how much stronger he was going to become with Laxus teaching him.

"There is something else." mumbled Cana while fiddling with a lock of her hair between her fingers.

"Really?" he asked her; now slightly curious as to what else she might have to say to him.

"Yes, but please don't get angry at me." she replied while looking at him with a worried look now plastered all over her face. Hearing her say that caused him and the rest of the group to become very intrigued at what the brunette was going to say to him.

"Why would I? You haven't done anything wrong." he stated back to her with a very confused expression coming over his little face that usually had a grin on it.

"But I did, I read your future without your permission." she said while looking down at her feet, ashamed that she did the one of the few things that fortune tellers aren't supposed to do. But to her shock she found herself in a tender hug by the person that should have been angry with her.

"It's alright Cana, I'm sure you did it for a good reason and I really don't mind." he told her while still having her in his warm embrace that he would have stopped earlier if he hadn't gotten a slight glare from Lisanna when he was about to end it a few seconds ago.

"But I still shouldn't have." she stated in a confident tone as they slowly separated from each other.

"Just because you didn't have my permission?" he asked her with a scrunched up face, clearly trying to figure out why this was bothering her so much. All Cana could do was nod her head yes and watch as the pink haired mage continued to have what was apparently his thinking face. An expression that she, and the rest of the guild would have found funny if it had been under different circumstances than the one they currently were.

"I got it!" declared Natsu while snapping his fingers and having a huge grin spread across his face. "Cana I give you permission to look at my future from this day on. For whatever reason you deem necessary, which means Gramps can come to you if Laxus and I don't check in for a while." he explained with a bright smile, clearly proud of himself.

"Do you really mean that?" asked Cana in disbelief as she got a nod yes from the boy. Who then with that grin he was known for took off for the doors before they could distract him any longer than they already had. "You are always just doing whatever feels right to you, aren't you." she stated with a faint smile as they all watched the doors close behind him.

"And that's why he's so much to be around." said Lisanna with a bright smile spread across her lips.

"It'll definitely be a lot quieter without him." stated Levy with a sad smile that soon spread across the rest of the group.

"Don't worry, that idiot will get on Laxus' nerves in less than a week and he'll probably be back here a few days. Mark my words." came the voice of Mira as she joined the group that was now heading to a booth.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that Mira." chimed in Cana now once again having a slightly worried expression coming over her face.

"Are you saying that because of what you saw in his future?" asked Levy with an equally worried expression coming over her face as well.

"Yes, but I want to let you all know that fortune telling isn't an exact science like some other forms of magic are." she stated with a stern expression, making sure that they all heard her. "And because of that I might have only seen glimpses of his possible futures." she continued to explain while pulling out her cards and starting to shuffle them since it had a slight calming effect for her whenever she played with them.

"And what might the future hold for that boy?" asked Makarov, causing the group to slightly jump at his sudden appearance right next to their booth.

"I'm not too sure about any of this since I'm still learning, but from what I could gather from the cards that I drew. He will unfortunately have constant obstacles that he will continually need to overcome in order for him to be ready for his true destiny." she answered as her expression became progressively worse towards the end.

"What destiny is that?" asked Lisanna with a worried look that was shared with everyone else right now.

"One that deals with death and destruction." she replied as she turned to Makarov with a pleading look, most likely wanting him to tell her that she read Natsu's future wrong.

"Given that we're talking about Natsu here, destruction was definitely going to be something that will always follow that boy around. As for death, unfortunately that is something that is in all of our destinies since it eventually comes for us all. And once again since we're talking about Natsu here, I'm confident that is a very far off future for him." stated Makarov with a confident smile. That he could tell helped get rid of the slight worry that they were all starting to have sprout up in them.

"So what else did you see in his future?" asked Mira, hoping to change the topic away from the death of their pink haired friend.

"That he might become famous across the whole country and maybe even the world." relied Cana with a smile starting to tug at the edges of her lips.

"More like infamous if he doesn't hold back that strength of his." stated a random guild member as they passed by, clearly having listened in on enough of their conversation to add their own two cents in.

"And that's why I wanted him to hold back, just think of all the bills I might be getting after all of this." shouted out Makarov as a depressed expression washed over his face. He knew that Laxus would find Natsu destroying things extremely funny since the guild would be held responsible for it and have to pay. This little outburst of his got most of the guild laughing at him only for the entire guild to then go back to how things usually were for them.

Something that the master of Fairy Tail hoped would happen, because after hearing the fortune that Cana read about the pink haired dragon slayer. He felt a small lump form in his gut, one that he knew wouldn't go away until Natsu and his grandson finally returned to them. And even then he had a suspicion that it wouldn't go away, because ever since he ran into the boy by sheer accident less than a year ago. Makarov knew that the boy was bound to shake the wizarding world in some way that he still couldn't figure out just yet.

 **With Laxus just outside of the guild:**

"Took you long enough." stated Laxus while leaning against the side of the guild just right of the door as Natsu came bursting out of it.

"I was only in there for a few minutes at most." argued Natsu as he came skidding to a stop and then started to casually walk with Laxus.

"And that was a few minutes too long in my opinion." he said with a slight smirk spread across his lips that the younger dragon slayer couldn't see.

"Some of the guild wanted to make sure that I was fine and apologize about what happened yesterday." replied Natsu as he smiled up at his new teacher.

"Of course they would want to do that after what they just witnessed from you today." he chuckled out while not noticing the scrunched up face his new ward was now making as they continued to walk towards the outskirts of Magnolia.

"Do you really think that's the only reason they apologized?" asked Natsu with a slight frown slowly coming over his face.

"Definitely, just think about it Natsu, they all just realized that you could easily take any of them on by yourself. And now they are trying to make sure that they stay on your good side, which is something that they started to do to me once I became an S-Class mage." explained Laxus while having a proud grin on display, very impressed with the raw power that the younger dragon slayer already had.

"I don't believe you." he declared while coming to a stop and glaring at the blonde that also came to a stop at his little outburst.

"And why do think that?" asked Laxus, who was honestly curious as to the boy's thought process behind such a confident belief in his guild mates.

"Because they're my friends and family, like Gramps always keeps telling me." he stated while having a determined look on his face.

"Would a real family constantly hurt and disregard your feelings like they've done since the moment you joined the guild?" Laxus asked him back, wondering if the young boy would be able to counter that.

"No, but only a few of them did that stuff to me." he answered while looking at his feet with a sad frown. "Plenty of them were really nice to me and made me feel accepted." he finished with a bright smile coming over his visage.

"Are you sure it was only just a few of them and that the others weren't just too shy or scared to join in?" asked Laxus while giving Natsu a stern look. And for next two minutes the two of them stood there in silence as the young fire dragon slayer thought through the question he was just asked.

Lasus was slightly surprised when a determined yet distinctively happy grin slowly spread across the boy's lips. "Absolutely, and they're not afraid of you like you think they are. They just don't know how nice you can still be like I do, I'm sure that if you stop staying in the second floor they'll find that out quickly." declared Natsu with probably the biggest grin the lightning mage has ever seen on someone's face.

Without even noticing it himself, a small grin spread across the older teen's face as he looked at the boy that never seemed to let anything keep him down for long. So with a quick shake of his head he turned back around and started to walk, knowing that his new student was following closely behind by the sound of his footsteps. "You do realize that having such faith in them is only going to cause you more pain later on when they eventually let you down." he said as his face went back to its usual stern expression that most people in the city thought was permanent for him.

"But what if they don't? If that is the case then I could possibly miss out on all the fun we could have together." replied the younger dragon slayer in a cheery voice, which caused his elder to let out a little chuckle.

"Never really thought about it that way." stated the blonde as the traces of a grin once again started to grace his usual stern expression.

"Igneel always said that I had a unique way of looking at things, don't really know what he meant by that." said Natsu now having a confused expression on his face for a few seconds, until it went back to his happy little grin.

"I'm guessing that he thought your positive outlook on things was incredible given everything you've already gone through. And I myself am starting to think the same thing." responded his new teacher as they started to get closer to the edge of Magnolia.

"That really didn't help me." stated Natsu with a slight pout coming over his face that once again caused Laxus to chuckle at him.

"We're really going to have to work on that brain of yours, which reminds me. We need to make one quick stop before we head off on this little training expedition of ours." said Laxus as he took a hard right to the pink haired boy's shock.

"Hey! And what about my gear?" shouted the pink haired mage at the back of the lightning mage as he chased after him.

"You won't need your gear since I want to make sure that you'll be able to take care of yourself under some of the worst conditions imaginable." answered Laxus as he turned down a different ally.

"Fine by me, I never had any of that stuff during my time with Igneel." he stated while starting to look around since this was one of the few areas of Magnolia that he wasn't familiar with yet.

"But I'm guessing that he provided you with anything that you really needed during your time with him." responded Laxus as he opened the door to what appeared to be a rundown store. Then he motioned for Natsu to enter it with him, which they both did, even though the younger dragon slayer didn't like the smell emanating from the store.

"He did, that is until he taught me how to take care of myself, after that I had to get anything I wanted on my own." he said back while starting to look around the dusty store that had a wide variety of things, with the most common one being books.

"So I take it that means you know how to properly hunt and kill your prey?" asked Laxus as he started to grab a few books off the shelves and give them to Natsu to carry.

"Yep, but Igneel told me that the only time I should ever kill another being is if I plan to eat it. And if so that I need to make sure that I don't waste any of it." he stated with a big grin that he soon lost after Laxus gave him two more books to hold onto. Making it a lot harder for the younger dragon slayer to keep up with his elder and not drop the books and possibly knock something over in the store.

"What about in the situation of a monster destroying a town or village? Would you still not kill it then?" asked Laxus while piling on three more books, now completely covering the pink haired boy's face with the stack of books that he was carrying.

"I'd just beat the monster up until it knows to never do something like that again." answered Natsu as he almost fell over with the stack of books, but luckily he recovered at the last second.

"Have you been doing that on your jobs so far?" he asked the boy with a shocked expression as he picked up some of the books so he could see his face properly.

"No, because Gramps and Erza wouldn't let me go on any of those missions." replied Natsu with a slight frown as he looked at the floor of the store.

"Good and I'm only saying that because if you had done any of those jobs. And not killed the monster you were supposed to then it would have made Fairy Tail look really bad if the monster ever resurfaced." he explained while letting out a sigh of relief.

"But what if the monster can change?" asked Natsu while giving the older mage an inquisitive look.

"Monsters don't change Natsu." he stated while giving the books back to the younger dragon slayer and starting to look for some more to grab. "All they know how to do is kill and destroy, which is what they will instantly go back to doing it if you ever let one go that you are paid to eliminate." he finished, not knowing that saying such things to the boy would upset him.

"So you're saying that I can't change?" whispered Natsu as he looked at the floor with a look of defeat on his face.

This caused Laxus to stop in his tracks as his eyes shot open in shock, now having all sort of questions about the pink haired mage he was soon going to be spending every hour of the day with. What were Natsu's interactions with other humans before his grandfather found him and brought him back to the guild. From how the kid acted right away on that day and then after, Laxus assumed that it couldn't have been too bad since he instantly seemed to fit in at the guild. But now thinking about it, he did recall seeing him being extremely hesitant in most situations that didn't revolve around a fight or guild wide brawl.

"Why in the world would you think that?" he finally asked, wanting to know what possessed the young boy to think of himself as a monster.

"Because I've been called a monster by other people before I joined Fairy Tail, and even a few times while I was out on a job." mumbled Natsu, glad that his face was currently covered by the stack of books he was carrying at the moment.

Laxus let out a sigh; he should have figured out that this was mainly due to the young boy's limited understanding of the civilized world and its language. But unfortunately he also had a bad feeling that some of the people that initially said that to Natsu actually thought he was a monster, most likely after being on the receiving end of his magic. A magic that would have probably made him view the boy as a monster if he wasn't a mage, that also just so happened to have a similar magic.

"You aren't a monster." he said in a harsh tone while glaring down at the boy that was slightly peeking at him from the side of the books he was currently holding. "I've seen my fair share of real monsters and you are nothing like them, and I don't ever want to hear about you thinking of yourself like that ever again." he stated to the now completely stunned mage before him.

"Then why did they call me that?" asked a clearly confused Natsu.

"They probably only said that because of how strong you are for someone of your age." he replied, only to see that it still wasn't making sense to him. "Maybe this will help you understand, they were calling you a monster in the same way that anyone from the guild might describe what it's like going up against Gildarts in a fight." he continued to explain, hoping that this would make more sense to him since he actually went up against the guild's ace already.

Laxus watched silently as the pink haired mage's face scrunched up in thought for a few moments, only for it to quickly turn to an excited grin. "Are you saying that they called me a monster because fighting me for them was like me trying to beat Gildarts?" he asked, almost dropping his books in his excitement at figuring it out on his own.

"In a sense yes, but I'm guessing that gap in strength was nowhere near as big as the one between you and Gildarts." stated Laxus with a little chuckle as he went back to looking for books in the store. Glad that he was able to get the young boy back to his usual cheerful self, while making a slight note to himself about figuring out what he did before joining Fairy Tail.

"Okay, but I still don't understand why they called me a monster when they could have just said I was too strong for them." he replied while letting out a grunt as Laxus piled two more books onto his already large stack.

"I know it can be a little confusing, but after reading some of these books and hanging around me for a while I'm sure you'll eventually get a better understanding. Which I know can be a little confusing since words can me different things depending on the context, something that you'll have to learn." said Laxus while smirking at the look of disgust from the boy, that he was confident Natsu had on after hearing that he was going to have to read actual books while training under him.

"Am I going to have to read all of these?" he asked hesitantly, dreading the answer that he had a really good idea he was going to be getting.

"Yep, and this is only just the beginning." answered Laxus with what the other dragon slayer thought was an evil grin.

"Will that be all for you today, Mr. Dreyar?" asked the elderly lady from behind the counter.

"Yes, and you probably won't see me for a while Delores." he replied while handing over a large stack of jewels and then giving Natsu a gentle push towards the door.

"Interesting, would it happen to have anything to do with that boy?" she asked him back with a knowing look sent their way. One that she knew neither of them could see, but couldn't help but do it since it looked like Laxus might be actually letting people get closer to him again.

"Once again you're correct and keep the change." he mumbled while opening the door and ushering the confused fire dragon slayer through it.

"I always do Laxus." replied the woman while giving him a big grin. This time knowing that he actually saw it before he left through the front door and closing it behind him roughly.

"Did you know her?" asked Natsu while struggling to keep his stack of books from falling.

"That's none of your business, so let's get going since we're already behind schedule as it is." he replied while taking the lead.

"Fine, but it really seemed like you knew that old lady back there." stated Natsu with a little grin. Only for him to let out a little yelp as he dropped his books thanks to being on the receiving end of a small bolt of lightning.

"That's the last we'll ever speak of her, now pick those up and put them into this bag so you don't fall behind." said Laxus while tossing his student a brown backpack.

"You didn't have to zap me." he mumbled back as he started to pick up the books while Laxus started to chuckle at his childishness.

"You're right, but this way I'm positive you'll remember." explained Laxus, who could already tell that this training with the younger dragon slayer was definitely not going to be boring for him.

"So where are we going?" he asked his teacher while placing the final book into his backpack and slinging it over his shoulders. Only for him to stop when he noticed the smile Laxus had on his face while looking off in the distance.

"Our first stop is Mt. Hakobe, where I'm fairly sure we'll be able go all out without possibly destroying anything of importance." answered Laxus with his smile changing to a slight smirk since it would also be a really good place to test the other aspects of the young mage. Such as how well he'll stand being in a place that was pretty much the complete opposite of his magic, and his survival skills as well.

"Of course it would be somewhere cold." he mumbled with a frown now on display for the whole world to see how thrilled he was about it.

"Don't worry Natsu, you'll probably only stay there for a few weeks if I'm correct about how quick you'll pick up on what I'll be trying to teach you." stated Laxus as his smirk grew at the sounds of confusion and indignation coming from his student.

"Are you saying that you won't be staying with me?" asked Natsu as he caught back up with the blonde that seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Did you really think that I would be freezing my ass off up there with you all day?" he asked him back with a little chuckle.

"Of course I did, how else are you going to teach me!" Natsu shouted back at him, which of course only caused the lightning mage to actually start laughing.

"I don't need to suffer every hour of the day with you in those terrible conditions when I can easily go back to a comfy inn when you're no longer able to keep training." he stated as if it should have been obvious to the pink haired mage.

"Then why do I have to?" asked Natsu as he got in front of the mage to make sure he got an answer.

"Because it builds character." answered the lightning dragon slayer with a large smirk spread across his lips.

"Don't give me that terrible excuse!" shouted Natsu while pointing an accusing finger at Laxus' chest that was only a few inches from touching him.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." replied Laxus with a little chuckle as he swatted Natsu's hand away and walked past the boy. "One of the main reasons that I want you to remain up there is to help build up your resistance to the opposite element of your current magic. Also if I'm not mistaken it should also help increase your overall amount of magic, since you're going to use your magic until you can't anymore from now on." he explained now going back to his usual serious expression.

"Okay, but why does it sound like something could go terribly wrong?" he asked while falling in step right beside the blonde lightning mage.

"Probably because if I'm wrong you could freeze to death." was Laxus' casual response that caused Natsu to stop and look at him as if he must have misheard him.

"It's not funny to joke around about something like that." he shouted while catching back up to him.

"I wasn't joking, if you aren't able to keep yourself warm after we finish our training you could easily become a popsicle like you always call Gray." chuckled out Laxus as an image of Natsu being frozen up to his neck appeared in his head. Of course with said pink haired mage screaming at him to get him the hell out of there so he could beat him up.

"Like I would ever let myself freeze to death." declared Natsu with a nervous chuckle. "That would be the biggest disgrace a fire dragon slayer could ever bring upon themselves and their dragon." he said with a look of determination in his eyes to never let something like that happen to him.

"Then you better prove me right, because I really don't want to explain to my grandfather why I let you freeze to death up there." said Laxus with a small smile. This of course didn't go unnoticed by his companion for the next month if not longer.

"Don't smile at the thought of my death! **FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!** " shouted Natsu as his flaming right fist connected with the older mage's left side and sent him skidding a few feet. Upon realizing what he just did to the person that agreed to help him, Natsu had a look of horror come over his face. Waiting silently for some sort of response from the person he just attacked, only to be caught off guard for who knows what number it was today by Laxus actually laughing.

"I can see we still need to work on that temper of yours, and you're right, it won't happen again. Well so long as I don't keep imagining you in a hilarious situation like I just did." he replied with a smug grin sent the pink head's way.

"You still shouldn't smile even if it might look funny." mumbled Natsu while giving the blonde a heated glare that only caused said person to start chuckling again.

 **July 11th X778 at the top of Mt. Hakobe:**

"So now what do you want me to do?" asked Natsu with smug grin as the top of a different mountain started to crumble and cause an avalanche that luckily wasn't going to hit any of the small villages scattered across the mountain range.

"Considering that you're now probably at less than a quarter of your total magic; I think this will be the perfect time for you to go and get rid of the current Vulcans in the surrounding area." replied Laxus from his sitting position on a nearby cliff edge just a few feet above the younger dragon slayer.

"Do I really need to take out all of them?" he asked with a questioning look now directed at the blonde dragon slayer.

"Yes you do Natsu, and if you need a better reason than me just telling you to. Did you know that they're known to kidnap young girls against their will and make them their wives?" asked Laxus with a slight smirk as the pink haired mage shook his head no. "If I recall correctly, they prefer women around Lisanna's age which just so happens to be only a few years younger than the rest of the girls in the guild." he stated, instantly feeling a rise in the temperature.

"I know you're only saying that to get me angry." he growled out while looking up at Laxus.

"True, but that doesn't change the fact that Vulcans, if left alone, will eventually destroy someone else's family." stated Laxus while having a stern expression on his face as the two locked eyes.

"Fine, I'll do it but I still think you aren't telling me the full story." he mumbled as he started to trudge through the snow and towards the area that he knew some of the Vulcans would be hiding because of their stench. Laxus however couldn't help but grin at the retreating figure of the dragon slayer before disappearing in a bolt of lightning, to then reappear in the closest village.

Once there he headed to the center where he knew that most villages had a bulletin board, so the villagers could post job requests for things that they couldn't do by themselves. This was a little trick that Laxus quickly learned during his time as a mage of Fairy Tail, because for a lot of the lower level jobs that he went on usually had more than just one person wanting the same thing taken care of. Of course some of the time those people would pool their jewels together and submit an official request to all of the guilds around them. But more often than not, there would be another person out there that didn't get involved with the rest of them and decided to post a request of their own at the local bulletin board.

It would seem that today was one of those lucky days for him, so with a smirk he ripped off a request to take out the local Vulcans. And after quickly looking it over he headed off to find the first client and inform them that he would soon have their problem taken care of. After which he would then head and speak with the client that posted the job at the guild. While he was casually walking through the village he started to wonder if he should inform Natsu of this since he was actually the one doing all of the work. Something that he knew for a fact he wouldn't have thought about for a single second just a few days ago, but after spending all of that time since then with the optimistic and hyperactive dragon slayer. He couldn't help but want to live up to the image that Natsu had of him, which was that of a great mage.

"Well there goes my plan of making a few jewels off of him." Laxus mumbled to himself with a slight smile spread across his face as he heard the faint sounds of a fight taking place in the mountains. "But I bet he'd be fine with me taking half of the reward since I'm the one that took the job and found the second request for it." he stated before knocking on the door of the house he came to a stop in front of. His last thought before entering the house to talk with the client was that he hoped Natsu didn't do anything to prevent them from getting the full reward like the boy usually did on any of the solo jobs he went on.

 **July 25th X778 on one of the lesser known routes down Mt. Hakobe:**

"Does this mean I'm done with training in the stupid snow?" asked Natsu, obviously excited by the prospects of being done with that part of his training.

"For now at least, now tell me the quickest way to deal with a pack of wyverns?" replied Laxus with a sly grin spread across his mug. He knew that Natsu was currently glaring a hole in the back of his head for not giving him a definitive answer to the question he just asked him.

"From what clan?" asked the upset dragon slayer, who got used to Laxus doing this to him. But unfortunately for him it didn't make it any less annoying or frustrating, and he quickly learned that the best way for him to get his question answered was to answer Laxus' little quiz about his studies after the lightning mage left him for the day.

An idea, that everyone at the guild would agree on as being stupid given Natsu's terrible attention span. And they would have been correct, except for Laxus planned on the young dragon slayer blowing off his reading for the first couple of days. Only for him to question Natsu a few days later about things that he definitely should have known if he did in fact read what he was supposed to. And for every question the young dragon slayer got wrong Laxus would come up with some form of punishment that he knew the boy would hate. Such as forcing him to meditate while he was still being supervised, or one that Natsu thought was extremely cruel was the older dragon slayer following him while he hunted for his dinner. Making sure that before Natsu even got the chance to try and catch something for his meal that it was frightened of by usually a bolt of lightning.

Needless to say, after receiving that specific punishment three different times Natsu would read until he eventually fell asleep because of exhaustion. It surprised Laxus when he watched the younger mage do this, and he was going to tell him that it was pointless to do that if he didn't retain any of it. But he never got the chance since Natsu was capable of answering all of the easy questions that the older dragon slayer had for him the next day. And even when Laxus started to increase the difficulty of his questions his student could usually answer them correctly, the only ones that tripped him up where the trick questions or the ones that weren't in his selected readings. Because of that Laxus wouldn't give him the dreaded punishment of scaring away the boy's dinner before it could even become that.

"For any of them." replied Laxus still having a sly grin on display. As he patiently waited for an answer from his companion that currently seemed lost in thought as he tried to figure out the answer.

"I'd have to say by taking out the Alpha, once you do that the pack will dissolve and more than likely turn on each other." he finally answered with a confident grin sent to the blonde.

"Correct, now please tell me one of the possible ways of dealing with a group of humans that outnumber you by at least ten to one?" asked Laxus, wondering if Natsu was finally going to see the obvious flaw in this question.

"I can't answer that since you didn't give me any information about them, and as you are always saying information is power in every situation in life. None more so than a fight where the odds are against you." stated the younger boy with a smug grin spread across his lips.

"Don't get cocky just yet you little brat, they are a group of bandits that don't have any real mages in their ranks." responded Laxus while giving the pink haired boy a smug grin of his own.

"Then I'd do the same thing and try to take out their leader as well. Unfortunately it's not very likely for them to turn on each other, but it will definitely make them less coordinated and possibly cause a few of them to flee." answered Natsu as he started to celebrate what he thought was a flawless answer.

"That's correct, but you do realize that sometimes even taking out a group's leader won't affect anything but their moral. Take Fairy Tail for example, if Gramps got taken out of commission for a certain amount of time I can guarantee that one of the S-Class mages or even someone else would step up and keep everyone in line." he stated with a fond smile now on his face.

"I can see that, but I would have known that from watching them before I attacked." argued Natsu with a slightly defensive edge to the tone of his voice.

"I already said that your answer was correct, Natsu. Now I'm just trying to point out how it could have possibly failed for you. As for scouting them out before hand and being able to figure out all of that in just a few minutes, sorry but that is highly unlikely." he said with a little chuckle. Laxus was glad that he figured out just from watching Natsu at the guild over the past year that he didn't learn like most of the other kids in the guild.

The little fire dragon slayer quickly absorbed information if he was able to see the usefulness of it, and one of the best ways for him to see that were through hypothetical situations that usually revolved around him getting into a fight. And if it wasn't about fighting then it was about helping someone out at the guild with whatever made up problem Laxus could come up with that went along with what he was trying to teach him.

"How so?" asked Natsu no longer in a defensive state and visibly calmer than he was just seconds ago.

"Once again I'm going to use Fairy Tail as my example, just think about what you'd more than likely see after watching the guild for a few days. Would any of that give you the impression that Mira or even Erza for that matter aren't your average kids since they are constantly fighting with each other?" he asked with a little chuckle.

"That both of them are monsters that I'd want to avoid if I could." mumbled Natsu, causing Laxus to actually start laughing openly with him which was something that he was doing more often these days. "Not that I don't think I could beat them or anything like that." he quickly shouted which only made the blonde laugh harder at him as he continued to ramble on about not being afraid of them anymore.

"That's enough, I get it Natsu, you aren't afraid of those two anymore. So let's get back to what your observation would be of the guild and why you would try to avoid those two." said Laxus after finally calming down and no longer laughing at his companion.

"I guess my conclusion of watching the guild and not knowing anything else about them other than what I witness over a few days... would be that they're just a group of people that are pretty strong and really like to fight with each other and party." he stated while scratching his chin in thought. "And as for why I wouldn't want to go up against Mira or Erza, I would only do that to avoid wasting my energy and magic on something that wasn't necessary." he finished while nodding his own head in approval at his own conclusion.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear out of you. I'm betting that the rest of the guild would never believe that you came to that conclusion on your own." chuckled out Laxus as he imagined the shocked faces.

"No kidding, so when are we going to visit them?" he asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. "Not that I don't enjoy our training or anything like that, I just wouldn't mind seeing them." he mumbled back while trying to hide his faint blush.

"Oh, is little Natsu starting to miss his girlfriend?" asked Laxus in a taunting tone that would have caused the entire guild to pass out from sheer shock at realizing that it came from him.

"I don't have a girlfriend!" he shouted back which only brought his elder more amusement. The two of them continued on like this for a little while, until Laxus no longer found it funny and went back to quizzing his protégé with more hypothetical situations. They did this until they finally got out of the snow and started to head in the opposite direction of Magnolia which stunned Natsu since they were only just a little over a week from being away from the guild for a whole month.

"So where are we heading to now?" asked Natsu when he really wanted to ask why they weren't heading back to the guild.

"We're heading to another location where you won't have to worry about possibly hurting someone while you're practicing." he replied with a devious smirk.

"Why don't you ever give me a straight answer?" asked Natsu while letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Because I know that it annoys you and if you must know our next location for training is going to be Worth Woodsea. Another location known in Fiore for almost being completely devoid of any humans, which would probably be the case if the forest didn't have rare plants that can only be found there." he answered to the shock of his pink haired companion.

"Are there any tough monster there for me to fight?" asked Natsu now excited about the possible fights he could be having soon.

"More than there were in that freaking mountain, and you won't just be battling monsters like I know you're hoping for. You're going to have to hunt down some rare ingredients and other things that won't require any sort of fighting out of you." declared Laxus as he gave Natsu a stern look.

"You don't need to tell me it again Laxus, I know that there is more to being an S-Class mage than being able to fight. But can you at least pick a few jobs that will give me an actual challenge." he stated in a bored tone.

"Glad to know that it's finally sinking into that thick skull of yours, but it appears that someone is a little full of themselves these days." replied Laxus as he messed up Natsu's hair in a brotherly fashion with his right hand.

"Cut that out, and no I'm not!" he shouted back while batting away the lightning mage's hand and keeping out of his range afterwards.

"Yes you are, because all of those last jobs I had you do were C-level at best." stated Laxus with a grin as Natsu quickly lost that smug look he had on for a while now.

"Really, but I thought you said they were B-level and higher?" he asked with a hopeful expression coming over his face.

"I lied, but to make up for that we'll stop by the nearest town so you can send the guild and your little girlfriend a letter." answered Laxus once again having a sly grin spread across his lips.

"Really, man I can't wait to tell them… Hey wait a minute, I don't have a girlfriend Laxus!" shouted Natsu as he tried to hit the blonde with a fiery punch. But unfortunately Laxus expected this and kept dodging the younger dragon slayer just barely, on purpose of course to ensure that he wouldn't get bored and give up on trying to hit him.

"Is that the best you've got Natsu?" he asked while easily dodging the sloppy attacks sent his way.

"You know it isn't!" declared the upset dragon slayer as he continued to try and land a single strike on the blonde.

"I'm no longer too sure about that Natsu, which is why we're going to start sparring with each other from here on out. Hopefully we'll find a few jobs that allow you to go up against some other humans so you don't get used to only going up against me." he said while blocking a punch and quickly countering it with a punch to Natsu's chest. That sent the little boy flying into a tree a few yards away from them and left a large crack in it at the base where he connected with it.

"Really, we're finally going to start learning the stuff I've been waiting for?" asked Natsu in disbelief since he was starting to think that this day was never going to come.

"Indeed we are, but we're still going to continue to train you on everything else that we have been so far. And since I'm now going to be sticking with you for the whole time we're going to have to work on those manners of yours." he finished with a wicked grin that caused the pink haired mage to unconsciously gulp.

"Why would we need to work on something like that?" Natsu asked nervously.

"So I don't feel like hurling every time I notice you eating something. Also I'm pretty sure that once you woo that little girlfriend of yours she'll really appreciate you not embarrassing her when you go out on a date together." he replied in a serious tone, that caused Natsu to look at him as if he was crazy.

"For the last time I don't have a girlfriend and just don't look at me while I'm eating if it's that bad!" Natsu shouted back with a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

"You just keep telling yourself that kiddo, and it's kind of hard to not watch when food is flying around as if it's being torn apart by a pack of savage wolves." stated Laxus with a little chuckle.

"It's not that bad." he argued, but without his usual vigor since he knew he was a little messy while eating. A fact that you couldn't really blame on him since he was raised by Igneel, a dragon that clearly didn't even have the slightest idea of what table manners were and if he did then he more than likely thought it would have been something pointless to teach to his son during their limited time together.

"Either way it's going to stop if you still want me to teach you." declared Laxus, who was surprised that Natsu seemed shockingly okay with it. "Are you okay with this because you know it'll help you get your girlfriend to like you?" he asked while giving the younger dragon slayer a cheeky grin.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't have a girlfriend for you to finally believe me? Also if I had a girlfriend wouldn't that mean I don't need to do anything to get her since she's already my girlfriend?" asked the younger dragon slayer with a confused expression on his face. That only became more confused as Laxus started to laugh uncontrollably after he finished his little rant.

And so for the next few minutes they continued to walk with Laxus laughing as if he had just heard the funniest thing in the world. Finally the blonde stopped laughing to the relief of his traveling companion as the sun was starting to set on the horizon. "That will probably shock the guild even more than you reaching the level of an S-Class mage." stated the blonde while wiping away an imaginary tear from his right eye.

"What will?" asked Natsu with a slight frown since he didn't like it when he had no idea why the older dragon slayer was laughing at him.

"You slightly understanding the concept of a relationship." answered Laxus with a wide smile spread across his lips.

"Hey, it's not my fault that it's different for us dragon slayers and Igneel didn't know how humans go about finding their mate." he mumbled back, only for Laxus to give him a friendly pat on his shoulder.

"No worries Natsu, and now you've got something that you can actually teach me about." stated Laxus with a sincere look sent Natsu's way. "But that'll have to wait until you're at least at the level of an A-Class mage, which is quite a ways off for you right now." he finished while once again messing with the younger boy's hair.

"Cut that out would you!" shouted Natsu as he took off at a run to get away from Laxus. Who just shook his head as a faint smile spread across his lips before he took off after the still rambunctious dragon slayer at a leisurely pace so he wouldn't catch him right away. He was now completely confident in his decision to take the fire mage under his wing and help him on his path to an S-Class mage, which he was confident would only be a stepping stone for him on his promising career of a wizard.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and giving me such positive support on this story and all of my other ones. It really means a lot to me and I hope that I'll still be able to write stories that you all enjoy for the foreseeable future. Well hopefully you all now know how honored I feel, so onto what I usually do in these notes of mine which is letting you know what I'm thinking about doing with the story and getting some feedback from all of you. As it stands right now I plan to probably have the next chapter cover more of Natsu's training with Laxus and also skipping ahead some so we're closer to the events in canon. And I feel it probably goes without saying that you should feel free to leave me a review or PM if you want, and I'll get back to you when I have the time.**

 **Oh and feel free to check out my profile page for other information.**

 **Until the next Chapter**

 **Digem Out!**


	4. Their Return

Ch 4: Their Return

 **October 8th, X778, inside the Fairy Tail guild hall:**

"Sorry Lisanna, but my answer is still going to be the same." sighed Makarov as he looked down at the youngest Strauss sibling. Ever since the end of the first month of Natsu's training with his grandson the poor little girl has been coming to him asking if he knew how they were doing or when the two of them would be returning. Unfortunately he couldn't give her an answer to either of those questions and still wasn't able to do it once she asked him just a few days later and all the times that then followed after.

He thought it was absolutely adorable that the young girl was so worried about her pink haired friend, which only became even more adorable when two weeks ago she started to request sending a group after them. Of course he couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease her by assuming that she was going to be part of said group if he allowed them to go looking for the two boys. This of course got a slight blush from her the first two times he asked her that, resulting in her shaking her head no at the suggestion. But with each subsequent time she asked him this she grew less embarrassed to where she didn't even deny that she wanted to help look for the young dragon slayer she hadn't seen in three whole months.

"But we still haven't heard anything else from them since his first letter two months ago." pouted Lisanna as she let her head fall onto her arms resting on the bar's counter.

"True, but I also know for a fact that you and Cana have been checking up on him every now and then." he replied while giving the young take over mage a sly grin that caused her to start blushing.

"Only because he hasn't sent us anything else and those fortunes of hers are really confusing." she said with a disappointed look coming over her usually smiling face.

"And why do you think that?" he asked her, wondering if they were any more specific than what the brunette was usually getting with her readings.

"They keep saying things about his destiny." she answered with a prominent frown washing over her previous expression. "One that doesn't sound very good for him if you ask me."

"How so?" he inquired. Already knowing that on a few of the occasions Cana peered into the young dragon slayer's future she kept on seeing death and destruction. Something that troubled him greatly, but as he told the rest of them on a few occasions those two things are pretty ambiguous and not surprising considering who they were talking about, especially if you considered his magic.

"She keeps getting the loner card with it, which she thinks means that whatever his destiny is he'll have to do it all alone." she replied while still having that frown of hers.

"Interesting, but also not too surprising since it is his destiny that were talking about my Dear. And everyone has their own destiny to fulfill, that most would argue needs to be done alone." he reasoned, even though he wasn't one of those people and believed you were always free to forge your own destiny. And one of the easiest ways to do that was with the help of your friends.

"Cana said something similar." said Lisanna in a slightly sad tone as she picked her head back up.

"She's a smart girl, and is becoming quite the little fortune teller." he stated with a proud grin as he looked over at said girl sitting by herself on the other side of the guild hall. Doing another reading from her cards at the moment if the determined look she currently had on her face was any indication.

"A pointless skill when you can handle most situations with a good punch." declared Mira as she strode up to the two of them with her usual smug grin.

"Of course a meathead like you wouldn't see the advantages of being able to see into the future." stated Erza as she also made her way towards the now little group.

"Red!" growled out the oldest Strauss as she glared at her rival. "It doesn't surprise me that a weak mage like yourself would need something like that if you ever hope to have any sort of chance against me."

"That's enough you two." declared Makarov before Erza could reply back to Mira, which he knew would eventually lead to the two of them fighting.

"Yes Master." replied Erza while giving him a quick bow. "But I'm also a little worried about those two." she said while glancing over at the entrance of the guildhall.

"Liar, you're not concerned about Laxus at all." stated Mira while sporting one of the biggest shit eating grins possible as her rival had an embarrassed expression flash over her face. "You're only worried about Natsu and if he's going to hand your ass to you once again."

"That's a lie!" she yelled back. "At least about the Natsu part that is, I'm sorry Master." she said while once again giving him an apologetic bow.

"It's fine, Laxus hasn't done much to warrant any of you worrying about him." he pointed out with a tired sigh. He had hoped that this little bet of theirs would have gotten Laxus to interact with the rest of the guild members more. But it seemed to have the exact opposite effect that he initially intended and instead they were now down another member that used to liven up the place on a regular basis.

"Damn right, that jerk is always looking down on the rest of us." growled out Mira with a slight sneer gracing her lips. "Thinks he's so much better since he's now an S-Class mage." she finished in a huff as she waved over one of the barmaids.

"Mira-nee, that is not a very nice thing to say." stated Lisanna as she gave her older sister a cute little glare.

"That's funny, weren't you just telling me the other night that you were concerned that he'd have a bad influence on your little boyfriend." she taunted back, effectively making her little sister a blubbering mess as she tried to deny all of it. And for the next few minutes Fairy Tail was its usual rambunctious self, that is until Cana came running over to them as fast as she could.

"You guys are never going to believe it!" she declared as she almost fell over while she tried to come to a stop.

"What?" asked Mira in a clearly bored tone, which usually indicated that she was about to start a fight with a certain red headed knight.

"They're both coming back today!" the brunette replied with a bright smile as she placed her cards on the table for all of them to see.

"Sorry Cana, but you're the only one that can really understand what any of that means." pointed out Erza while gesturing to the few cards spread out on the counter before them.

"My bad." chuckled Cana as she rubbed the back of her head while giving them a sheepish smile.

"Natsu's coming back?" asked Levy as she peered over at them from the other end of the bar.

"You can read them?" asked Fairy Tail's only card mage in sheer disbelief.

"Nope, but who else would you be excited about coming back to the guild?" inquired Levy as she hopped off her current stool and moved down to one right next to their little group.

"You have a point there." she replied with a nervous chuckle while once again rubbing the back of her head.

"So when are they going to be back?" asked Lisanna in an excited tone as she looked expectantly at the brunette sitting right next to her.

"Any time now." was her simple reply as the two of them shared a smile.

"So Flame Brain is finally coming back." stated Gray from his table with most of the other younger members. Which only really consisted of Droy, Jet, and Elfman, all of whom weren't as excited as the rest of them by the return of the pink haired boy that didn't leave on the best terms with them. Even if he told all of them that he had forgiven them, they weren't convinced and still felt bad about it.

"You're going to challenge him aren't you?" asked Erza as she gave him a stern glare.

"Of course I am." declared the ice mage as he somehow was already down to just his boxers. "After that beat down he gave me last time I've got to return the favor." he said in a surprisingly confident tone.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea Stripper?" asked Mira in a mirthful tone. "I mean, he handed your ass to you last time without even breaking a sweat. And that was before he had Laxus giving him some pointers, which I'm confident is all he's done for the idiot." she finished while cracking some of her knuckles and looking ready for a fight.

"Hey, he's not an idiot!" shouted Lisanna as she glared at her sister.

"What do you think I've been up to since he left?" he asked while frantically looking for his discarded clothes.

"I'm fairly certain that Natsu would assume practicing your stripping." giggled Cana as they all watched him continue to look for his pants. Pants that he wasn't going to find anytime soon since she snatched them seconds earlier and stashed them behind the bar on one of the shelves.

"Shut up!" he shouted back while not even looking over at her. "I've been working my ass off these past three months, just look at all of the jobs I've completed." he mumbled back as he continued to look for his pants. Erza thought that she had seen less of him than she usually would have, but she chalked that up to the fact that she too was doing as many jobs as she possibly could since the dragon slayer's departure.

"Really Gray, did you complete ten of them?" asked Mira in a taunting tone.

"No!" he shouted back only to stop when he realized who he was yelling at. "I've done twenty different jobs, and that was even after I had to wait almost a full two weeks to get out of the infirmary." he continued to say with a proud grin spread across his face until he remembered he was looking for his pants.

"I bet they were all C-level or below." she argued back, slightly caught off guard with how many he was claiming to have done over the past two and a half months. This also meant that during some of those jobs he still had a cast, effectively making any job that much harder.

"He's actually done a few B-level ones and one A-level." chimed in Levy in a surprised and slightly impressed voice as she continued to flip through the book that Master used to keep track of which jobs everyone did or was currently doing. This of course caused said ice mage to have a very smug grin come over his face as he looked over at the girl starting to earn the title of She Demon of Fairy Tail.

"You let him go on an A-Class job by himself Master?" asked Erza in an aghast tone as she looked at him with an equally aghast expression.

"No I didn't Erza, he went on that mission with Macao and Wakaba." he replied while gesturing over to the two older gentlemen that gave them a friendly wave in response. "And before you even ask, no he didn't go by himself on any of the B-Class requests either. Unfortunately I can't really say the same for Natsu." he finished while giving out a tired sigh, completely ignoring all the shocked looks he was currently getting.

"Master!" she and the rest of them said together while giving him various looks, with the most common one being shocked.

"Did you all think that Laxus was just going to stop doing jobs while he trained him?" he asked them back, getting a few of them to realize that they should have known that. While the others didn't seem to care about that and were more interested in finding out what jobs Natsu might have been given the chance to try on his own.

"Good point, but even Laxus wouldn't be foolish enough to let him go on anything he wasn't qualified for." stated the guild's unofficial head of the disciplinary committee that only consisted of just her.

"True, but then again, none of us believed that he and Natsu would be gone for three months straight." pointed out Cana with a worried look only for it to change into a thoughtful one. "Wait a minute, how are they even getting new jobs if they aren't coming back here?" she asked while turning to look at their guild Master.

"Laxus has been back almost every week." answered Makarov as he set down his beer and scratched his chin in thought. "Granted it's only to let us know which jobs are done and to grab a few new ones." he finished only to then go back to drinking from his mug.

"And you never thought to ask him where they are or how they were doing?" asked Erza while trying her hardest to remain calm.

"Don't you mean Natsu?" asked Mira in a cheery tone while she gave the redhead a bright smile that quite frankly creeped out most of the guild whenever she did it since it didn't seem to belong with her quite frankly abrasive personality.

"Shut up Demon!" she growled back.

"Sorry Erza, but I can't really ask him any of that since I'm never around when he stops by." answered the elderly guild Master in the hopes of keeping the two of them from each other's throats as long as possible.

"So you don't have any idea if Natsu helped him out on any of them?" asked Gray with a skeptical look sent his way, getting a nod from the guild Master.

"If Natsu did do any of them on his own then they were B-Class or higher." stated Levy after flipping through the rest of the logged jobs and taking note of everyone signed out to Laxus.

"How many missions could he have possibly helped out on?" inquired Cana, wondering if any of her weird readings of the pink haired mage were different because of the job he might have been working on when she was looking at her cards.

"Only twenty." replied the resident bookworm with a bright smile.

"Ha, even if he helped on all of them I'll have done more than him." declared Gray after deciding to give up on his missing pants and somehow having lost his shirt as well.

"Laxus took five S-Class, twelve A-Class and three B-Class." she continued to say as her smile grew as Gray's once smug grin turned to a shocked one. But before he or anyone else from their little group could comment on that shocking bit of information, an all too familiar alarm rang throughout Magnolia, signaling the return of one of their members that they hadn't seen for even longer than Laxus and Natsu.

"To think that he'd return on the same day." stated Makarov as a smile stretched from ear to ear.

"I bet your little cards didn't see this coming." said Mira as she got up and followed the other members heading out to meet their guild's Ace. None of them noticing that Cana was one of the last members to leave the guild, and looking slightly nervous for some unknown reason.

"I still can't believe that they actually designed the entire city to move out of the way for him." commented Macao with a small smirk as he shook his head.

"I'll say, but hey, it's probably cheaper in the long run." pointed out Wakaba as he sent a smoke ring flying into one of his earlier ones.

"Is it me or does Gildarts seem smaller than usual?" asked a random member as they all inspected the figure heading down the long path leading directly towards them.

"No it isn't." commented a different member as they watched the figure stop and wave to a few people gathered on the edges of the newly formed pathway.

"He also doesn't seem to be his usual self." stated Reedus as he set down his easel and proceeded to paint whatever caught his fancy.

"That can't be him can it?" asked Gray as the figure continued to wave to the people looking down at him.

"They only do the shift if one of the guards sees him coming." replied Makarov as he too was starting to wonder if the person heading their way was in fact their Ace. "But that doesn't mean someone else couldn't jump in there if they wanted to." he stated as he started to have a good idea who would do something like that.

"Who would be stupid enough to do something like that?" asked Mira, only for her question to be answered in the form of a loud roar ringing out as a large stream of fire shot into the air from the figure. The figure that they all now knew belonged to none other than Natsu Dragneel, who was sure to have that grin of his once he finally made it to them.

"Freaking Idiot." mumbled the young dragon slayer's rival as he started to stretch for his upcoming fight with him.

"I'd say." commented Mira even though she had a faint smile that luckily none of them noticed.

"I thought he was with Laxus." stated a random member as a few others nodded their heads in agreement.

"Laxus probably went back to his place." replied Makarov as he shook his head in disappointment. He was really hoping that Natsu would help make his grandson realize how good he actually had it, and that life was what you made of it.

"What's taking him so long?" asked Lisanna after they continued to wait for him but he didn't seem to get any closer over the last few minutes.

"I don't know, but he better have a good reason for keeping us waiting." responded Erza in a stern tone as her hand tightened ever so slightly on the handle of the sword strapped to her side.

"Looks like he's waiting for Gildarts." pointed out a different member as another figure approached the one they were all fairly sure belonged to Natsu.

"Don't tell me he's doing what I think he is?" Makarov suddenly asked as a worried expression washed over his face. He knew the boy was a determined one, but he honestly didn't think Natsu would be stupid enough to challenge their Ace only after just three months of training with his grandson. Especially after losing so terribly to the crash mage on three different occasions the last time he was in town.

"Unfortunately he is Gramps." answered Laxus from right behind his grandfather; causing a few of them to jump back in surprise at his sudden appearance. They didn't even get to question the blonde lightning mage before a blur flew past them and crashed into the top floor of the guildhall.

"Natsu!" shouted out Lisanna with a worried expression as she looked at the small human shaped hole in the side of the guildhall before dashing back into the guild to go and make sure he was okay. Her sudden departure seemed to snap the rest of them out of their shocked states, which resulted in most of the younger generation going back in to see if Natsu was still with them.

"It would seem that he's still as rash as ever." stated Makarov with a small grin as he turned to look at his grandson. "It's good to finally see the both of you, which brings me to my next question. What in the hell were you thinking? Being away for three whole months and not even sending us so much as a letter to let us know that you're both fine!" he shouted out while flailing his arms about dramatically.

"Easy Gramps, wouldn't want you to have a heart attack." replied his grandson with a smug smirk, effectively causing the titan mage to come to a standstill and give him a heated glare. "What can I say, time just seemed to fly while I was training with him." he answered as his smirk turned to a slight smile as he looked back at the guildhall.

"But that still doesn't excuse you two for not letting us know you were alright." pointed out Makarov as his glare lessened to just a stern stare.

"I really didn't see the point in us letting you guys know that once Natsu informed me that he gave one of the brats here permission to do readings on him." he replied with a dismissive wave as he walked past his grandfather.

"Her name's Cana." stated Makarov as he fell into step with Laxus who seemed to be heading towards their returning Ace.

"I honestly don't care about those other weaklings in the guild." said Laxus with his usual superior tone, but his grandfather could tell that it lacked the certainty that it once did which brought a smile to the elderly mage. "Natsu for that matter… he just barely passed my standards for studying under me." he finished as he came to a stop just a few feet away from Gildarts.

"So you're the one I should be thanking for this." stated Gildarts in a deadly voice as he gestured to the red imprint of a small fist on the side of his left cheek. Needless to say, both Dreyars were left speechless at this shocking revelation and could only stand there slack jawed. Both of them wondering how the mage capable of destroying a few blocks just from losing concentration would react next. Their answer came in the form of a wide grin slowly spreading across the crash mage's face before he brought Laxus into a bone crushing hug that neither of them saw coming.

"I was guessing that it would have taken him at least three more years to get to where he is right now." he chuckled out while still keeping the blonde lightning mage in his painful hug.

"Let go of me you old fool." grunted Laxus as he tried to break free.

"Sorry Laxus!" he replied while instantly letting go of the teen and went straight to rubbing the back of his head and sporting a cheesy grin. "And I mean no offense when I say this, but weren't you being a pain in the ass before I left? Thinking that everyone was beneath you once you were promoted to S-Class." he asked, causing Makarov to openly start laughing.

"Shut up Gramps!" yelled out the teen while glaring as his snickering grandpa. "And yeah I might have been a little arrogant back then, but that still doesn't change the fact that most of the guild is still beneath me." he mumbled back as he redirected his glare to the Ace of their guild.

"So are you saying Natsu isn't?" asked Gildarts while raising one of his eyebrows questioningly.

"I never said that." he quickly snapped back. "He's still just a brat like the rest of them; he just got lucky that I was able to see the potential hidden behind all of his idiocy. Something that I can confidently say most of the older members don't and will never have since they're content with how things are."

"Deny it all you want my boy, but both of us can see you've taken a liking to our brash little dragon slayer." chuckled Makarov as he flipped over to Gildarts' side. Laxus was about to start arguing with the two of them, but with a quick look at their expressions they were both wearing at the moment he thought better of it and just let out a tired sigh.

"So what type of training did the two of you do while I was gone?" inquired Gildarts as he started rubbing the small red mark Natsu left on his cheek.

"That's something I'd also like to know." butted in Makarov before Laxus could even open his mouth to answer. But right as the teen was about to explain what the two of them did over the last three months a loud roar rang out from the guildhall. That was then followed by the hole already in the upper level blowing open even further as a ball of fire shot through it and came crashing down near them.

"Let's go Gildarts!" declared Natsu as he emerged from the small crater he just created. Looking at the crash mage with a predatory glint to his eyes as he slowly stalked towards them.

"Sorry Natsu, but I'm going to pass." replied Gildarts while readjusting his large duffel bag slung over his right shoulder. "I just got back and could really use some time off."

"We just got back too, but you don't see that stopping me!" declared the young pink haired teen before he lunged at the older mage with a fiery fist cocked back. Unfortunately for him, his fist came into contact with nothing since Gildarts easily dodged it with a twist to his right. But to Makarov's and Gildarts' surprise, he was then forced to keep evading attack after attack from the pink haired ball of energy that kept coming after him.

"He's already attacking him again!" stated Gray in disbelief as he and a few others came rushing back out of the guild.

"Seems like Pinky is still as dumb as ever." commented Mira with a little smirk tugging at the edges of her lips. That then turned into a full on one as she caught sight of the quick glare sent her way from the dragon slayer's teacher over the past three months.

"You can do it Natsu!" cheered Lisanna from the hole that he flew out of earlier.

"He can't, and he knows it." assessed Erza as she came to a stop in between Gray and Mira. This caused the two of them to look at her with funny looks, only for them to become questioning ones as they watched the redhead watch the fight with her utmost attention.

"I do have to admit that I'm quite impressed with how much you've improved since the last time we saw each other Natsu. But this isn't even a fight for me." stated Gildarts with a proud grin as he continued to effortlessly dodge all of the attacks directed at him.

"You're right old man… Because you're not even fighting back." yelled out Natsu as he came down with a fiery kick directed at the man's head. Only for the crash mage to then stop evading and completely block it with a single outstretched hand.

"If I fought back it'd be over in a matter of seconds." he replied in a quiet yet somehow still immensely powerful voice.

"We'll never know until you try." declared Natsu as he did a roll to try and get behind the man towering over him. And just like all of his earlier attempts it resulted in nothing new, or at least that is what most of the spectators thought. But those with a keen enough eye noticed something that none of them expected to see, which was Natsu actually dodging an attack sent to where he would have ended up at after his roll.

"Impressive." commented Fairy Tail's Ace more to himself than to anyone else as a faint smile started to make itself known as the pink haired kid jumped away from him.

"Now I'm all fired up!" yelled out Natsu before charging in head first. Once again resulting in the two of them dancing around as the rest of the guild watched on in relative silence.

"Why doesn't Gildarts just end this?" asked Gray as he looked over to Makarov and Laxus.

"Because he's waiting to see how far Natsu has come." answered Makarov before wincing as Natsu was once again sent flying. But luckily for him, this time instead of being sent into the guild where he'd have to pay for the damages. The young pink haired boy was sent soaring into one of the surrounding trees, causing said tree to snap in half as he then continued on into another one.

"Well that's definitely the end of it." said a random member as he was about to turn around and head back into the guild. Only for a few shocked gasps to cause him to stop and look back to where Natsu fell, and what he was greeted with was a slightly shaky teen heading back towards his opponent.

"It's over Natsu, you've lost." stated Gildarts as he watched the boy stagger towards him.

"It's not over until I say it is." he growled back, letting all of them catch a slight glimpse of his fangs that most of them could have sworn weren't there when he left with Laxus.

"Natsu that's…" Erza started to say, but trailed off after locking eyes with him for just a second. And in that brief second she could tell that he wasn't doing this just for the hell of it, no it was something that he had to do and not even Makarov or Gildarts were going to be able to stop him.

With a frustrated roar the young fire mage charged once again at his opponent, unfortunately for him his opponent had yet to take any more damage than that first hit landed on his cheek. But he wasn't going to let that stop him from trying to at least land one more hit on the man he looked up to and strove to one day surpass. And if he wanted to even have the slightest of chances at accomplishing that he was going to have to go all out like he should have from the get go.

Just as Natsu was only a few feet away from Gildarts he once again did something that none of his friends have ever seen from him before. Which was igniting his legs on fire, causing his speed to increase greatly while also allowing the young mage enhanced mobility that let him fire off in whatever direction he desired. With this new technique of his Natsu was able to zig zag past the crash mage facing off against him and come to a stop right behind his completely exposed back.

All of Fairy Tail watched on in disbelief as the pink haired kid that most of them wrote off his crazy stories as being nothing but that, stories intended to try and get their attention. But here he was, facing off against their Ace and somehow lasting longer than anyone before him who was dumb enough to challenge the crash mage. Granted, Gildarts had yet to even use a single magical attack of his, but lasting as long as he had was no small feat by any means.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** shouted out Natsu as he brought his flaming fist at Gildarts' unprotected back. But just as it was about to land, one of the crash mage's hands came out of nowhere and caught it while also completely snuffing out the younger mage's flames.

"I'm impressed Natsu, but like I said earlier I don't have time for this." replied Gildarts as he slowly turned around to look at the young mage still caught in his grasp. And what he did next shocked even Makarov, the gathered mages of Fairy Tail watched on in sheer amazement as their Ace covered his other hand in his magic. Only to then bring it back down on his pinned opponent who was trying his hardest to escape from the iron grip keeping him in place. This resulted in the young pink haired boy once again being launched away from their Ace, but this time slamming into the ground only a few feet away from him and making a fairly decent sized crater.

"Well that's the end of that." he said with a little chuckle while he dusted off his hands and turned back to look at all of his fellow guild mates. And what he came face to face with was pretty much every single one of them looking at him in disbelief and sheer shock. "What?" he asked after they all stood there in silence for a complete minute.

"You killed him." stated Gray in a dull tone as he looked over at the newly formed crater he was sure contained the remains of his rival.

"Oh… He'll just be out for the next few hours." he replied in a dismissive tone as he gave them a cheesy grin. Only for a large hand to smash him into the ground and continue to do so for the next two minutes as Makarov lectured him about being too careless.

 **A few hours later inside the guildhall:**

"And then that brings me to when I unexpectedly got a flaming fist to my cheek." finished Gildarts as he wrapped up his explanation of what he was up to for the last six months, unconsciously rubbing the spot where Natsu landed his surprise attack.

"That still doesn't really explain how he actually landed a hit on you." pointed out Erza, who just like everyone else wanted to know how their hyperactive dragon slayer accomplished such a feat.

"About that…" he chuckled while rubbing the back of his head nervously. "The little brat shouted out about some lady's dress falling down, and as soon as I turned to look where he was pointing he socked me." he answered with an embarrassed look coming over his face as most of the younger generation could only roll their eyes at him.

"And here I thought Flame Brain actually did something impressive." commented Gray as a smug look washed over his face once again.

"I'd argue that he actually did." replied Laxus as he gave the ice mage a slight glare. "He used one of his opponent's weaknesses to land a hit he otherwise would've never been able to." he continued to explain as that smug look of his once again came over his expression.

"If that's all you taught him while the two of you were away then we have nothing to worry about." stated Mira with a sly grin sent the blonde's way.

"Hearing you say that means you were concerned that he'll actually surpass you." he said as he twisted so he was face to face with her. "Which you honestly don't have to be worked up about since he was already ahead of you and most of the guild before we even left." he continued to say as a large smile made its way across his face, while a stunned one came over the eldest take over mage in their guild.

"Laxus, there really isn't any need for that kind of talk." reprimanded his grandfather while giving him a stern look, which he only responded to with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That actually reminds me, weren't you going to tell me the training that you put him through over the last three months?" inquired Gildarts after he drained the remainder of the contents in his mug and motioned for a refill.

"And why exactly would I do something like that?" he asked back defiantly.

"Because I'm telling you to." stated Makarov as he locked eyes with him. "And I also want to make sure that you're not being too tough on him or taking advantage of him in any way." he finished in a commanding tone.

"Fine…" replied the young lightning mage after letting out a long sigh and realizing that everyone was waiting for him to start talking. "First thing we worked on was his critical thinking and his overall lack of patience." he started to say only to come to a stop as a snort of amusement came from a certain ashen haired individual. "While also working on increasing his already impressive amount of magic for someone his age." he continued to say after giving her a heated look that caused her to look away from him.

"And you actually got him to pay attention to you?" inquired Erza, who knew firsthand how hard it was to keep the pyro's attention on something he deemed boring.

"Not at first, but after being with him for a few days it was pretty easy to figure out how he prioritizes things and what I needed to do to let him know how important all of it was." he answered with a very noticeable hint of pride added to his usual smug voice.

"And how exactly did you accomplish that?" she asked back while standing up from her seat abruptly and placing both of her hands on the table they were currently sharing.

"By simply explaining to him how it would help him achieve his various goals in life." answered Laxus as he looked at the red head skeptically.

"What kind of goals could a Moron like him even have?" asked Gray, instantly regretting his question when he was soon on the receiving end of a few heated glares. With the one scaring him the most coming from Laxus of all people.

"Well Gray, there would of course be the one of him reuniting with his dragon, Igneel, which I already know you find stupid since you don't believe that he even exists." the blonde spat back at him in a venomous tone that caught the rest of the guild off guard. "Or maybe there is the goal he for some reason got stuck in that head of his to get strong enough to protect all of you. Even though I don't think any of you deserve it after most of you only made fun of him or taunted him since the first time he walked through those doors." he finished with a sneer while gesturing over to the guildhall entrance.

"He actually told you that?" asked Lisanna in a timid voice as she made her way towards the clearly upset lightning mage as the rest of the guild had looks of regret come over their faces.

"Yes he did, he honestly can't keep quiet for more than a minute if he isn't meditating or fighting." he replied with a tired sigh as he lost his sneer and shook his head to clear it.

"That sounds just like him." she said with a bright smile coming over her face as she looked up at him. Only for her and everyone else to be caught off guard as Laxus patted her gently on the head and smiled back down at her while crouching down to whisper something to her so that no one else could hear him. Needless to say the rest of them were even more confused when the little girl's response to whatever he said was blushing up an enormous storm before dashing off to the infirmary before anyone even had the chance to question her.

"What did you just say to her!" Mira shouted out angrily as she made her way over to him with some of her magic swirling around her now clenched fists.

"That's between me and her, Mira." answered Laxus as he smiled back at the take over mage trying to intimidate him and failing terribly at it. "But Natsu does talk in his sleep a lot…" he continued to say while tapping his chin in thought. "You and a few of the other girls here seem to make a fair amount of appearances in them if his rambling is any indication." he finished as a devious smirk made its way across his mug.

"What?" she asked back as she and a few of the girls around her age started to have the first signs of a blush show up on their faces.

"You heard me, but as to what kind of dreams the little pyro was having about you girls…" he replied as his smirk only grew in size as some of the gathered girls started to have visible blushes as certain things started to pop into their heads. "Well that's something you'd have to talk to him about." he finished knowing full well that he just guaranteed things were going to be pretty interesting once his protégée finally regained consciousness.

"Oh he will." stated Erza in a menacing tone from the sidelines as she slammed one of her fists into the open palm of her other hand.

"You'll have to wait your turn Red! I'm really going to enjoy beating everything he's ever thought about me and my little sister out of him." declared the oldest Strauss before she was now in the face of her rival. Both of them glaring at the other, just begging for a reason for the two of them to start up one of their usual fights.

"Like hell I'll let a Bimbo like you handle something as important as this." she responded as the two of them clashed heads together.

"Laxus… What have you done?" asked Makarov as he could already imagine the damage he'd have to pay. At this point the two girls were already to their usual point in most of their fights where they would be hurling insults back and forth until one of them would run out and finally attack the other one.

"Nothing really, all I've done is just give Natsu another test." replied Laxus as he sat back down at the table with a content smile spread across his lips.

"One that will probably kill him." commented Macao as he and Wakaba could only shake their heads and start reminiscing about the pink headed pyro that always livened up the guild whenever he was around.

"If that is even remotely similar to how some of your other tests were for him, then no wonder he's progressed so far." stated Gildarts as he jovially patted the blonde on his back, not even realizing that in doing so he caused the teen to spill his drink all over himself.

Such a thing happening to Laxus only three months ago would've more than likely ended with him exploding on the crash mage and subsequently storming out of the guild in a rage. But to Makarov's pleasant surprise all his grandson did was hiss out a quick curse before wiping it up and pretending it didn't even happen as Gildarts continued to voice how proud he was of the two of them.

"I'm starting to feel sorry for him." said Gray as he and the rest of the kids his age took notice of Mira and Erza's fight. It was pretty normal for the two of them, except for this time Natsu's name kept on popping up when they were talking about their ideas of how to properly punish someone.

"This will be a cakewalk for him." commented Laxus as he gave the young ice mage a confident smirk. "Especially if he decides to handle it with a fight between the three of them, even if it's a two on one." he continued to say to the shock of everyone listening in on their conversation. "But I'm hoping he'll try something different." he finished as a barmaid brought him a new drink.

"Like what?" inquired Levy, who never would've asked him a question before, much less even talk with the intimidating lightning mage. But after seeing how he treated Lisanna and was currently interacting with the rest of the guild he definitely seemed more approachable.

"Hopefully he'll try and talk himself out of this one, which I'll admit will be pretty hard given that those two will probably be trying to hit him the whole time. But it's definitely not the hardest thing I've asked of him since we started to work together." answered Laxus as he gave the young bookworm a warm smile that most of them didn't even know he was capable of.

"Do you really think he'll be able to?" she asked while glancing over at the two girls that were now into the openly fighting stage of their usual routine.

"I'd say it's about a fifty fifty chance for him, with the other one being him getting them to agree to have a duel with him." he replied as he smiled down at the young solid script mage.

"Frankly I wouldn't mind watching him take on the two of them." commented Gildarts as he watched the two girls duking it out in the center of the room, easily noticing the skill and potential that each of them had. It was at this moment that an angry shout rang out from the guild's infirmary, which was shortly followed by the doors being kicked opened by none other than the person on most of their minds.

"Gildarts!" he shouted out as he made his way over to them, with any guild member between the two of them quickly moving out of his way due to the prominent scowl he was sporting. A scowl that most of them didn't even know he was capable of doing since he was usually grinning or smiling like a loon.

"Yes Natsu." replied the crash mage as the young dragon slayer came to a stop just a few feet in front of him. The rest of the guild was completely silent; all waiting on baited breath to find out what he was going to do next.

"Thanks for the fight, it really taught me a lot." stated Natsu as his signature grin once again came over his face. And along with it, so did most of the other members of Fairy Tail who might not say it out loud but were all excited for their young fire mage to be back with them once again.

"Natsu!" came the threatening shout from two certain girls that until just seconds ago were at each other's throats. Unfortunately for him he didn't pick up on their tone and turned expecting to be greeted in a similar fashion to how Lisanna greeted him after his initial crash through the guildhall. Instead half of his face came into contact with a steel gauntlet while his other half was hit with a fist enhanced with darkness magic. Needless to say, most of the guild winced as he was then sent flying across the guildhall and through two different walls until he disappeared outside.

"Maybe I was wrong…" stated Laxus with a worried look coming over his face as he looked at the new whole his pink haired student made with his body. "I honestly didn't think those two would ever be able to work together efficiently." he continued to say with the same expression, that is until he finally looked back at the two of them only to find them once again fighting with each other.

"I'm afraid that your first assessment of them was correct." replied Makarov as he openly started to cry about the jewels he was sure to lose with Natsu and his grandson finally being back.

"What in the hell was that for you two?" asked Natsu as he made his way back through the holes he created just moments ago. Instead of getting an answer like he was hoping for he was sent flying back outside thanks to the two girls kicking him in the chest together.

"You know what you did." declared Erza as she watched him come skidding to a halt a few feet away from the guild.

"Did you really think I would let you have those kind of dreams about me and my little sister!" yelled Mira with a sneer coming over her face as she watched the young teen dust himself off as he got back up.

"I honestly have no idea what the two of you are talking about, but that's the last time either of you are going to get a free hit on me like that." he replied in a slightly unnerving tone while at the same time giving them a grin that showed off his fangs. Effectively reminding the two of them that he was no longer the Natsu that he once was over three months ago who would put up with them treating him like that.

"Laxus informed us about you saying our names in your sleep." explained Erza as she looked away from him, ashamed in herself for instantly going back to how she usually dealt with the pink haired boy.

"Yeah, so what gives Pinkie?" asked Mira in a snide tone as she placed her right hand on her hip and looked at him expectantly.

"What gives?" he asked them both back with a shocked look coming over his face. "Did either of you ever stop to think that he might be lying to the both of you?" he asked while pointing over at the blonde clearly enjoying the show playing out in front of him.

"No." mumbled Erza as she still couldn't look him in the eyes.

"Even if it was just a lie I still want to make it crystal clear to you that you can't have those kind of dreams about us." replied Mira as she walked up to him and poked him in the chest. Taking great enjoyment out of the slightly stunned look he had afterwards when he looked back down to where she poked him. And it looked as if he was about to lash out at her, but right when it appeared as if he was, he let out a long sigh as he closed his eyes only to open them back up and smile up at her.

"I still have no idea what you're talking about, much less what kind of dreams you think I'm having. But seeing how both of you treated me right away I'd be more than happy to challenge the both of you to a duel." he said as his all too familiar grin slowly spread across his face.

"You're on Pinkie." she quickly answered as she grinned back at him. "I've been itching to fight you after what you did last time to Red." she finished with a smirk sent Erza's way, resulting in her receiving a heated glare back.

"Do you two always have to fight?" Lisanna suddenly asked causing a few of the spectators to wonder where she came from.

"Yep, it's just our way of getting things across to each other that we can't really put into words Lisanna." replied Natsu with a huge smile as he started to stroll to the back of the guild without a care in the world. This caused a fair share of the guild to look at his retreating figure in a stunned silence since the old Natsu would have never been able to give an answer like that.

"Hold up one second Natsu!" called out Laxus as he got up from his table and headed towards the younger dragon slayer looking at him expectantly. "You and I both know that facing off against each of them on their own won't be much of a challenge for you. So why don't we make it a two on one to make things a little more interesting for you and everyone else?" he asked with a wide grin spread across his face.

"Like hell he'll be able to take me on by himself, and I sure as hell don't need help from someone like Red." replied Mira as she gave Laxus her most intimidating glare and Erza a look of disgust.

"I wouldn't want to work with you either." replied Erza as she gave her rival a deadly glare, but otherwise said nothing about taking on the young dragon slayer that was shockingly quiet so far.

"Then it's settled, we'll each take him on by ourselves which will unfortunately mean you won't even get a chance." stated the young take over mage as she turned away from her rival and intended to head out back. But she came to a stop when she came face to face with Natsu who appeared to be in deep thought.

"Natsu?" asked Lisanna hesitantly since this was also a new thing for her as well.

"Let's do it!" he all of a sudden shouted out as an enormous grin spread across his lips. "The two of you against me is exactly what I've been itching for." he declared while throwing a fist into the air in his excitement. Only for him to then bring it down in a sweeping motion that redirected a fist thrown at him safely to his side. After which he ducked underneath a roundhouse kick intended for his head, which then allowed him to take down his attacker with a quick sweep of the legs.

"How?" asked a stunned Mira as she looked up at the ceiling from her sprawled out position on the floor.

"I've been sparring with Laxus on a daily basis for the last two months." he answered with a warm smile as he looked down at her and offered her a hand.

"Shit, he made that look so easy." stated Gray as he looked at his rival with wide eyes, starting to wonder if he should challenge him like he was initially intending to do.

"You just got lucky!" she declared in an almost growl as she batted away his hand and got up on her own.

"Think whatever you want to Mira, but with how we both are right now it'll end up the same way if it's just the two of us fighting." stated Natsu as he backed away from her with his hands up.

"Not if I use one of my take overs it won't." she argued back as she glared at the boy that just embarrassed her in front of the entire guild. She wanted nothing more than to lay him flat out on his ass, but something in the back of her mind was telling her that it would more than likely end up with her staring at the ceiling again.

"It will, but I'm guessing that your mind is made up on this." he replied while letting out a sigh that would have sounded more at home with someone at least thirty years older than him.

"Hold up you two!" called out Makarov as the two of them along with the rest of the guild were making their way out back. "I think Laxus is right about this." he stated to the shock of most of them.

"What?" shouted out both Erza and Mira at the same time.

"Natsu's little confrontation with Gildarts if nothing else showed us how much he's grown while he was away." he started to explain while pinching the bridge of his nose since his guild has already gotten three new holes since their return. "And after that I can confidently say he'll be able to take on each of you by himself in a one on one fight. So a two on one seems like the next logical choice, one that he's already made it pretty clear to be excited about." he finished as the two girls in question looked at him with looks of disbelief.

"Does it have to be her?" Mira asked while pointing at Erza. "Couldn't my partner be Gray or anyone else?"

"I really hate to admit it but I have to agree with the Demon." stated Erza with her usual stoic expression as Mira was now glaring daggers at her.

"Sorry but I have a feeling that the two of you won't learn as much if I allowed you to do that." he replied while looking at the both of them with a completely serious expression. "So if the two of you want to still fight Natsu, then you'll have to do it together."

"Then I'll pass." said Erza to pretty much everyone's bewilderment. It caught Mira off guard so much so that she wasn't even able to come up with a good taunt about her running away like she usually would have. And it looked as if that was going to be the end of it until Natsu jumped in front of the red head's way out of the guild.

"Come on Erza, I haven't gotten to fight either of you in like forever!" he whined while giving her his best puppy dog look. And for the next few moments the usually rowdy guild of Fairy Tail was completely quiet as they all waited to see how she would respond. For Natsu at least he got his answer in the form of the red head's lips ever so slightly forming the beginnings of a faint smile, causing him to let out a yell of excitement as he started to celebrate.

"Fine, but only just this once." she replied with her stoic expression once again coming over her face as she walked past the dragon slayer doing a little jig in the middle of the guildhall.

"I never agreed to any of this." stated Mira as she came face to face with her before she could get to the back exit.

"You're free to turn it down, but I know you won't since I've already accepted it and if you didn't it would look as if you're admitting that I'm better than you." she whispered into her ear before brushing past her and heading out back.

"Hell yea, now I'm fired up!" cheered Natsu before rushing after the redhead to start getting ready. After his departure the rest of the guild soon followed suit thinking that it was a guaranteed thing now, all except for a certain take over mage left standing there like a statue.

"There's nothing wrong in admitting defeat when you know you don't even have a chance." whispered Laxus as he walked past her, effectively securing her participation.

"Are you okay Mira-nee?" asked Lisanna as she came up to her sister still standing there.

"Yep, but the same thing can't be said for your little boyfriend once I'm through with him." she replied with clenched fists and a determined look plastered on her face as she headed out back.

 **End of Chapter**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did when writing it. So this is going to be a short note since I've already got most of the next chapter done and will hopefully be posting it within three days of posting this one. But as I'm sure most of you already know, sometimes our plans don't play out like we would want them to. As always feel free to leave me a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.**

 **Until the next Chapter,**

 **Digem Out!**


	5. Their Fight

Ch 5: Their Fight

"Hurry up Mira!" whined Natsu from the other side of the clearing as he continued to bounce around on the tips of his toes that were now completely exposed thanks to him tossing away his sandals to the side. This was something that he appeared to do with everything but his scarf of course and his pants that only went halfway down his calves.

"Did Laxus teach you that as well?" she asked him back while gesturing to his current state of attire, or lack thereof as she made her way to Erza's side.

"Nope, I just didn't want to ruin my last good shirt." he replied while still grinning at her with his signature grin that she honestly missed seeing from the young boy. "As for my sandals, they were just going to get in the way." he stated as if it should have been obvious to his two opponents, causing both of their looks to become even sterner.

"I'm glad to see that not all of Laxus' training was focused on power alone." stated Erza as she lowered herself into a squatting position with her sword held over her head so the tip was pointed directly at him.

"You have no idea how true that is." he said back to her as he lost his grin for a split second only for it to instantly come back over his face. "But that's boring and something we can talk about after our fight." he declared as his oh so familiar flames started to swirl around both of his fists that he still held at his sides.

"I couldn't agree with you more Pinkie!" shouted out Mira as she lunged at him, catching her partner and the rest of the guild off guard since their match had yet to officially start.

But unfortunately for her, the one person she was trying to surprise with her sudden attack saw it coming from a mile away judging from the smug grin spread across his face. And her assumptions about that were proven correct as her darkness magic infused fist met nothing but thin air, only for the air to be knocked out of her as a knee imbedded itself in her gut and sent her flying back. Where she then slammed into her rival and partner for this match against the dragon slayer, causing the two of them to become a jumbled mess.

"Get the hell off of me!" growled Erza as she rolled the still gasping take over mage off of her, expecting an imminent attack headed their way. But to her shock Natsu was still standing on the other side of the clearing that was their current sparring grounds. And she could instantly tell that her face said it all as he then burst into laughter that only lasted a few seconds before he was just smiling at the two of them.

"You were expecting me to start attacking the two of you while you were both still down weren't you." he stated while still smiling at her as she nodded her head in response. "If this wasn't just for fun I would have in a heartbeat, but it isn't and technically our match still hasn't even started yet." he pointed out while gesturing over to Makarov who was still standing there with a stunned expression plastered across his face.

"How do you keep doing that?" came the slightly still wheezing voice of Mira as came up to Erza's side with one hand holding her gut.

"Expect the unexpected, which I still think is impossible and doesn't even make a little bit of sense!" answered the pink haired dragon slayer before glaring at his teacher over the last three months who had a smug look that probably wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon.

"Then why was that your answer to her?" Laxus asked back as he nodded in Mira's direction.

"Because most people wouldn't expect to be attacked before an official match even starts." he stated as his attention was now completely on the blonde. "But since I did it, it's no longer the unexpected, which means I still have to try and think of something else I wouldn't expect to happen. And that takes way too much thinking when I could be having more fun just relaxing." he finished with a stern look which clearly stated to everyone watching that this was a conversation they probably have had more than either of them would have cared for.

"If I were you I'd be paying attention to those two." stated Laxus as his smirk somehow grew even larger.

"Why wou…" he started to say until he was cut off by a strong kick connecting with his head that sent him flying left a few feet until he crashed into the ground.

"You should have listened to him." answered Mira as a smug expression came over her visage as she looked over at the boy slowly getting back up to his feet.

"Mira! That's the second time you've attacked him without the match even starting!" Erza shouted out in rage as she was now face to face with her longtime rival.

"And what of it?" she asked back while smashing her head into the head of her current partner.

"It's not fair or honorable." replied the redhead as she pushed back with just as much force as the ashen haired girl in front of her.

"Well guess what Tin Can, life isn't fair!" she shouted back, intending to continue on but some part of her told her that she needed to jump away from her current spot. And she couldn't have been more correct about that feeling because as soon as she and Erza jumped away from each other the ground where they were standing exploded into a large cloud of dust.

"You're right Mira." came Natsu's voice from within the dust cloud he more than likely was completely responsible for. Before either of them could even put up a proper guard he came launching out of it with a trail of fire in is wake as he headed straight at his so far only attacker. Getting right in front of her in what seemed like a blink of the eye, where he then delivered a devastating flame enhanced uppercut that was followed up with a flame enhanced kick while she was still in the air.

By this time Erza was back to her senses, which was good since he was already heading towards her at break neck speed. Seeing this she charged him head on like she had done so many times before, but unlike every time before he was ready for almost every move she could throw at him. Something that he proved as he deftly slid under her first slash at his chest, barely avoiding the sharp edge of the blade by a mere inch while coming to a stop right behind her.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!"** he shouted out as his fist came into contact with her back plate and sent the stunned red head hurtling through the air.

"Shit, he's got quite the punch." mumbled Mira as she rubbed her sore chin while slowly getting back up.

"No kidding." stated Erza as she too slowly got back up, while reaching for her aching back. This simple action caused her eyes to go wide when she actually felt her own back and not the armor that should still be protecting her.

 **"FIRE DRAGON'S WING ATTACK!"** yelled Natsu as he rushed in between the two of them and grabbed them by their collars before they could realize what was happening. The rest of Fairy Tail watched on as his flames enveloped the two girls he then proceeded to toss away from him, resulting in them coming to a stop at least ten yards away from him.

"Come on you two, if this is all you've got then there really wasn't any point in doing any of this." he said as a cocky grin spread across his face, one that looked very Laxus like if you were to ask any of the spectators. Most of the onlookers at this point had their mouths hanging open in shock, not because of how much it appeared he has grown since they last saw him. But because of him so blatantly calling the two girls out as pretty much the entire guild watched on, meaning that he just signed his death warrant, or so they thought.

 **"TAKE OVER: SATAN SOUL!"** shouted out Mira in complete rage as a large purple seal hovered over her only for a bright light to shoot out the next second. When the light died down, most were shocked to see a completely different Mira standing in the spot she had been just a second ago. Where once stood a girl that looked pretty average if one were to look past her gothic attire now stood what most would call a menacing demon. One that had a pair of wings, large tail, and claws that looked as if they could cut through steel with very little effort.

At the same time this was occurring the other girl in the match underwent a transformation of her own. But instead of altering her body like Mira, she now was wearing a different armor that only a handful of her fellow guild members had ever seen. Erza also now had her own set of wings, but instead of being made of scales and skin, hers were cold hard steel. As were the rest of her outfit that now to most of the guild's surprise left her midriff bare along with top half of her still developing chest, everything else sparkled in the mid afternoon sun.

"Now that's more like it!" cheered Natsu to most of the spectators' confusion as the two clearly infuriated girls shot up into the air. Both of them coming to a stop once they were a good distance above him with each of them then proceeding with a spell that more than likely was going to be a ranged one. This was proven correct as swords started to appear around Erza, each of them pointing down at the dragon slayer still smiling up at Fairy Tail's already two most terrifying women. While Mira on the other hand raised one hand above her head as Darkness Magic started to form there.

"Master, are you really sure this is a good idea?" asked Macao as he kept his eyes on the events unfolding before them, slightly concerned for the pink haired boy who appeared to be having the time of his life at the moment.

"Not anymore." was the quiet response of Fairy Tail's Master as he kept a keen eye on all of the contestants and his grandson who still seemed completely confident in his young protégée.

"Dance my blades!" yelled out Erza after amassing at least one hundred different blades in the air around her. As soon as she said those words, blade after blade was then sent hurtling at her pink haired opponent who still at this point had one of the happiest expressions any of the spectators had ever seen. For most watching the fight they assumed that this was the end for the young pyro, but once again he proved all of them wrong as he zigged back and forth at astonishing speeds thanks to the flames on his feet.

 **"SATANIC BLAST!"** said Mira in a demonic voice that by itself would have sent a shiver up anyone's spin, but along with it came a blast so strong that everyone watching was forced to block their eyes. Not only that, but most of the spectators in the front rows were being pushed back as well.

"Natsu!" screamed out Lisanna in anguish as she tried to rush into the completely decimated area of the fight but was luckily being held back by her older brother.

"I never knew she had that much power." said Wakaba with his mouth wide open as he and everyone else continued to survey the smoking area they were confident now had an enormous crater in the center of it.

"No kidding man and she seems to still have more left in her." stated Macao as he tried to find any sign of Natsu, but so far couldn't thanks to the smoke and dust billowing in the air.

"She killed him." declared Gray with a look of terror on his face as he looked up at Mira still in her Satan Soul.

"She truly is a demon." whispered a random member to one of his friends, unfortunately just loud enough for said girl to still hear him. And unbeknownst everyone but the keenest of observers Mira's confident smirk faltered after hearing this, causing her to remember the last time she was called that and what followed afterwards for her and her siblings. It was honestly one of the main reasons she had until just now never showed off one of her take overs to the rest of the guild since she feared that they would once again be shunned. Her fears were slowly becoming reality as murmurs started to spread in the gathered crowd, and even though she couldn't hear most of them she had a fairly good idea what they were mainly about: her.

Although luckily for her she wasn't given much time to dwell on that thanks to two different fireballs flying out of the still smoking crater and hitting two of the spectators in their chests. With one of the unlucky onlookers being the person to first call her a demon, which was no longer in his mind as an ear shattering roar rang out while at the same time a pillar of fire shot into the air. Unfortunately for the poor bastard the very next second he had an upset pink haired dragon slayer glaring down at him completely covered in flames, which effectively made him the stuff of nightmares.

"She isn't a demon you Moron." he growled out at the now cowering guild member before him. "And I better not hear you ever calling her that again otherwise I'll show you something even more terrifying." he finished before disappearing only to then reappear back in the center of the crater that was no longer obstructed from their view due to his pillar of flames from just moments ago.

"That was a little over kill." stated Erza with a little smirk as she looked over at her partner who was smirking as well. The reason for both of them having similar expressions was because they were probably the only ones other than the small group Natsu appeared in front of to actually see it happen.

"Shut it Red, and obviously it wasn't." she replied while nodding in the direction of the still excited dragon slayer, who besides a few new scrapes and bruises seemed completely fine.

"You two almost got me there, and if I was just a second later I would've been a goner on that last one Mira." he yelled up at the two of them with a huge smile spread across his face. "But if I'm correct, neither of you will be able to do something like that again." he concluded with a cocky little grin, much to the cringing of his two opponents since he was spot on with that.

"Let's finish this." declared Mira with a genuine smile spread across her lips before diving down at him, not caring if her partner and rival was following after her.

"Then you're going to have to do better than that." he taunted her as he continued to dodge every single attack she threw at him.

"We'll see." she replied as she kept up her assault on him. "I'm guessing that any time now you're going to be running out of energy and right now you're just putting on a big show." she declared as he blocked one of her punches that was strong enough to leave trenches three feet long in his wake.

"Nope, I could go all day like this." he said before rolling out of the way of a sword flying through the air, which unfortunately for Mira was heading straight at her. She luckily just had enough time to twist to her right so it only left a small cut on the middle of her stomach.

"Watch where you're sending those little blades of yours, you Armor Loving Freak!" she hissed out as she glared at the red head trying to land a hit on their agile opponent.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings!" Erza shouted back as each of her attacks sent at Natsu were either easily dodged or batted away by a flaming fist or hand. And to make matters more frustrating for her, he was giving her that usual grin of his the entire time, almost as if it was all just a joke to him. Seeing this only caused her to intensify her assault on him, which she thought was going good until he randomly dropped to the ground all of a sudden.

She soon found out, it wasn't random at all as a fist covered in darkness magic connected with the front of her face and sent her flying backwards. Her anger only intensified as she picked herself back up and wiped away some of the blood now flowing from her nose, knowing that it was her supposed partner that was responsible for her current state. The knight couldn't help but feel as if her rival did that on purpose as she looked over at said woman trying to land a hit on the agile dragon slayer.

"You can't expect to win if you don't fight back!" shouted out Mira in frustration as the pink haired teen kept dodging or deflecting her attacks. And instead of getting a verbal response from him all she got in return was a shrug of his shoulders as his grin got ever so slightly bigger. She couldn't help but mimic him in that regard since he was proving to be quite the worthy opponent.

So the young take over mage was slightly caught off guard when he finally did something back to her, which was simply grabbing her arm after a missed punch and switching positions with her. She was about to ask him what the hell did he think he was doing when the very next second she felt the unmistakable feeling of cold hard steel come into contact with her side. Luckily for her it was the flat side of her partner's blade, however that still didn't mean it didn't hurt like fucking hell as she was sent flying sideways.

"Learn to stay out of my way." hissed Erza as she didn't even spare her partner a second glance before reengaging Natsu, with not just one sword but two. This seemed to finally get the cocky little dragon slayer to start taking her seriously as he reignited his feet to keep out of range of her deadly slashes. And just when she thought she was finally getting him cornered she heard something she really wished she hadn't.

 **"DEMON BLAST!"** bellowed a demonic voice that both of them knew exactly who it belonged to. But unfortunately for one of them, they didn't have the reflexes or even the energy to dodge it properly so their back took it full on.

"You should learn to stay out of the way." snarled the She Demon as she watched her rival get caught up in her attack that was honestly meant for Natsu, but saw it as a pleasant bonus if a certain someone was in it as well. "Now where were we Natsu?" she asked with an unnerving smile sent his way.

"We're supposed to be fighting." was his dull response as he appeared to be unaffected by the weird look she was currently giving him. That he made even clearer as he currently was cleaning out one of his ears with his pinky finger and looked fairly bored.

"We are you idiot!" she shouted back at him in rage at him once again looking down on her.

 **"BLUMENBLATT!"** came the angry shout of a certain knight from behind him.

And to Mira's and everyone else's surprise Natsu didn't even react to it, which apparently was fine since the next second a blur of red and silver flew past him and directly towards his other opponent. Once again catching her off guard as she was then on the receiving end of two quick slashes, which she knew from experience, was only the beginning. So despite how painful it was, Mira started to swat away the multitude of swords currently heading her way when she would have preferred to clutch her two fresh wounds. Finally ending with her clawed hands catching a sword in each hand that were still being wielded by a seething red head glaring at her in the hopes she would disappear.

"What the hell is your problem Red?" asked Mira as she struggled to keep the blades from coming down on her.

"You did that on purpose." hissed the red headed knight as she increased her efforts in trying to dismember her rival. But she unfortunately miscalculated the small fact that the She Demon now had a new appendage to use to her advantage, which promptly smacked her on the side and sent her skidding a few feet away.

"And so what if I did!" a now equally pissed off ashen haired girl yelled back.

"You're so dead Bitch!" yelled Erza before charging back in, which then resulted in probably their most heated battle to date. One that shouldn't have been happening in the first place since they were supposed to be fighting a certain dragon slayer that was now watching from the sidelines with a bored look plastered across his face. The two continued on like this for the next three minutes, constantly throwing insults at the other as they unleashed move after move until both of them were reduced to their usual outfits and breathing heavily.

"I can't wait to wipe that smug smirk of yours off your face." declared Erza between tired pants.

"As if Red, you're soon going to realize that you're no better than the rest of us." responded Mira who was just as exhausted as her rival. But before either of them could launch their next attack something completely unexpected happened that shocked not only them but the rest of the guild to their very core.

"I forfeit!" declared Natsu as he held his hands up in the air, effectively getting all eyes on him. "It's clear that I don't stand a chance against the two of you." he continued to say while gesturing to their battered states while he on the other hand still looked fairly decent. "And as I've come to learn there's nothing wrong in acknowledging someone else's strength, so with that said I'm starving." he finished while giving the two of them his signature grin before turning on his heels and heading towards the guild.

"Did that just happen?" asked a random guild member.

"I've never seen him do anything like that before." stated Gray as he looked at Natsu as if he currently had two heads. And he wasn't the only one, pretty much every other member of the guild were thinking or quietly saying similar things about the pink haired pyro.

"Hey Lisanna!" he shouted out as a path to the guild opened up before him as he got to the edge of their sparring grounds.

"Yes Natsu?" she asked as she worked her way through the stunned crowd and came rushing towards him with a bright smile spread across her face.

"Didn't you ask me about what I've been up to for the last two months?" he asked her with an equally bright smile now on his face as well, which quickly got a nod of confirmation from her. "Well now that I've gotten my workout for the day, why don't I tell you all about it while I grab something to eat." he suggested as the hints of a slight blush were starting to form on his cheeks.

Something that a certain blonde took notice of and couldn't help but start chuckling at, causing Natsu to get a full on blush that he then proceeded to try and hide by yelling at his teacher to shut up. This to everyone's surprise soon turned into the two of them fighting as if they were brothers, with Laxus teasing him in a light hearted manner as Natsu continued to shout out he was being an idiot or moron. And it more than likely would have continued on like that for a while if someone didn't speak up and effectively get Natsu's complete attention.

"I'd love to Natsu." replied the youngest Strauss with an adorable blush present since she seemed to be the focus point for most of Laxus' taunts.

"Hell yeah!" cheered the no longer embarrassed dragon slayer before grabbing her hand and dragging her into the guild as fast as he possibly could without hurting her. Something he apparently succeeded at since she was smiling and laughing with him until they disappeared inside.

"Ah… young love." stated Gildarts with a cheesy grin spread from ear to ear. "I remember those days." he finished as his grin slowly switched to a fond smile.

"What, like fifty years ago?" asked Laxus before jumping away from a swat meant to hit him on the back of the head.

"That's enough you two." declared Makarov in an authoritative tone, while at the same time he having a huge smile spread across his lips. "I think the guild has already suffered enough shock for the day and might keel over if they got to watch the two of you fight each other. Even if it was just for the hell of it and wasn't ever serious." he said while gesturing to the still shell-shocked crowd that were mostly just standing there with their mouths hanging open.

"Then you should probably send them home Gramps." replied his grandson as a mischievous smirk reappeared on his face as he came back up to his side.

"What do you have planned Laxus?" he asked while looking up at him skeptically.

"Nothing I swear." stated the young lightning mage as he held his hands up in mock surrender. "But if what they just witnessed shocked them… Well let's just say they haven't seen anything yet." he finished as they watched a few of the guild members finally snap out of their stunned states and head back to the guildhall.

"Like what?" inquired Gildarts as he slung his arm around the guild's newest S-Class mage. Somehow not picking up on the blonde's distaste for such an action, or possibly not caring in the slightest and this was his way at getting back at him for that comment earlier.

"You'll both just have to wait and see." he grumbled while trying to free himself from the crash mage's overly friendly grasp.

"What should we do about the two of them?" asked the crash mage with a serious expression coming over his face as he motioned towards the two girls still standing by themselves in the center of their makeshift sparring grounds.

"Nothing, they were just given a valuable lesson that both of them eventually needed to learn. And considering who taught it to them, well it might take them a little while to accept it. But I have no doubt that both of them will and they won't forget it anytime soon." answered Makarov as he looked over at the two girls with a warm smile before heading to the guild himself.

Once the three of them finally made it in, two of them at least were shocked to find most of the guild once again in a stunned silence. Of course it was thanks to a certain pink haired individual who was currently quite loudly telling Lisanna about an event over the last two months he deemed noteworthy. He was regaling her with how he had to single handedly take out an entire dark guild that was trying to hide out in the middle of the Worth Woodsea without raising any alarms. Which by itself would have been hard for most of the guild to believe, but that wasn't what caused most of them to return to a stunned silence. No they were reduced to their current state because he was doing something most of them believed was impossible, which was eating with proper table manners and actually using silverware.

"Okay that settles it, what have you done with the real Natsu?" Gildarts asked in an amused tone as he picked Laxus up and started to shake him.

"Hey!" shouted out Natsu as he stopped midway through his current sentence as he stood up and glared over at the older mage. "Is it really that hard to believe that I learned to eat like the rest of you?" he asked while looking around at the rest of the guild, now finally noticing all of the stunned looks directed at him.

"Yes!" came an astonishingly loud shout from almost the entire guild. This caused the once glaring dragon slayer to have a look of shock flash across his face before quickly turning into a pouting one as he then started to mumble about all of them being jerks and that he was right when he told Laxus he didn't need to learn how to eat properly.

"Even if you no longer eat as if you're a starving animal, I wouldn't consider your eating habits normal Natsu." pointed out Cana with a faint smile as she pointed at the table completely covered in food. All of which was just for him when it easily could have fed at least a family of six and maybe even more.

"You're right Cana, thanks!" he replied before going back to eating with a content smile on his face.

"I didn't really mean it as a complement." she stated before realizing it honestly didn't matter since he seemed to be back to his normal cheery self.

"So what else did the two of you do?" asked Lisanna, easily looking the happiest any of them have seen her since the dragon slayer's sudden departure.

"Lots, I don't even know where to begin." he answered after swallowing his large mouthful of food.

"How about some of the jobs you two went on together." suggested Levy as she took a seat at their table, happy like the rest of the guild that the two of them were back, safe and sound. She like a few others were also happy to see that he seemed to still be his cheery self and not a little version of Laxus like some of them feared might happen.

"We really didn't go on too many together." he replied while scratching his chin in thought as he looked up at the ceiling. This caused him to not notice the looks of disbelief that came over his friends faces at hearing this, all of them now wondering how many jobs and at what level did he go on by himself. "He did take me on two of his S-Class quests." he continued to say in an extremely excited tone as he recalled them.

"Like hell he did!" shouted out Gray, not wanting his rival to have something like that over him.

"Well he did Stripper, but you're free to believe whatever you want to I guess." stated the young dragon slayer dismissively, once again surprising a few of the onlookers who weren't there when he initially left with Laxus. "Although I wasn't really allowed to do much more than watch and occasionally help out in a fight he thought I could handle." he continued to say as a smile made its way across his face.

"And you were okay with that?" asked the guild's resident bookworm in an extremely skeptical tone, since that seemed so un-Natsu like.

"Of course I wasn't, but it was the only way he'd let me tag along." he responded in what they could only assume was his defeated tone as his smile vanished. A tone that they had never heard from him before since he was always a fiery ball of energy that believed anything was possible if you tried hard enough.

"So what were they like?" inquired Jet in an excited tone as he took one of the seats next to Levy. As he did this Droy took the other seat next to her and looked as equally interested in their current conversation. And you couldn't really blame him or any of them for that matter since even some of the older mages of the guild had yet to go on an S-Class job.

"They honestly weren't that much different than what he told me were A-Class level jobs." he said with a tired sigh at the end, wondering if this was going to turn into what happened when he was telling them about his time with Igneel. "One of them was just your standard Monster elimination job while the other one was the simple capture of a wanted rogue mage." he finished while looking at the small group at his table. And just like back then they all seemed to be hanging on his every word.

"Those both sound pretty interesting to me." encouraged Lisanna as a few others nodded their heads in agreement, causing a little hope to resurface in the young dragon slayer.

"I guess they were, but like I said earlier I didn't really get to do much on either of them." he once again clarified just to make sure they knew that if he continued with this story it would mainly be about Laxus.

"I'd still like to hear about them." she replied with an encouraging smile sent his way. That simple ever present smile was more than enough for the little pyro to regale them with his version of how things went down, which were surprisingly accurate so long as you got rid of his opinion on how cool something looked.

 **With Laxus on the second level a few minutes later:**

"So how much of it is true?" asked Makarov as he hopped onto and sat down on the railing his grandson was leaning against while he listened in on Natsu's stories over the past two months.

"So far all of it, well with the exception that he actually helped out on two more S-Class jobs that I told him were only A-Class." he replied with a smirk as his grandfather's eyes shot wide open. "But before you start lecturing me on how dangerous that was I made sure to thoroughly scout them out first, and they were just barely above A-Class." he clarified without even looking over at him.

"That still is incredibly impressive for someone his age." replied Makarov as a warm smile spread across his face as he looked down at the younger generation, who except for Mira and Erza were all gathered around said boy. "So how many of the other jobs did he do by himself?" he inquired as he looked over at the blonde with a questioning look washing over his face.

"If I recall correctly… All but maybe three of them." he answered while tapping his chin in thought. "Of course we discussed how he would go about doing them, sometimes even days in advance, so that definitely cut down on the chances of him doing something Natsu-like." he finished with a faint smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at the pink haired boy currently waving his arms in the air to help emphasize something in his story.

"Considering how I was greeted today I honestly don't believe that is something he'll ever fully grow out of." commented Gildarts as he came up to the two of them with a mug in each hand. "And I'm actually completely okay with that since it's what makes him Natsu." he stated as he handed one of the mugs to his guild master.

"You didn't bring me one?" inquired Laxus with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Of course not brat, you're still underage." replied the crash mage with a dead serious expression, which quickly changed into one of his signature cheesy ones. "And I'm sure you couldn't handle it anyways. So is he going to be our next S-Class mage?" he asked while nodding towards the little pyro.

"Nope, he won't be even competing in this year's trials. And I bet I can match you drink for drink old man." he answered while giving their Ace a heated glare, which the man just laughed off while ruffling the blonde's hair in return like one would do to a young child.

"And why wouldn't he compete? From what you've just told me he's definitely capable and already stands a really good chance at winning them." stated Makarov as he looked at his grandson, wondering what he was up to.

"Considering who he would be up against I don't doubt that Gramps, but being promoted to S-Class this early would definitely go to his head." answered the lightning mage as a worried expression slowly started to take up residence on his face. "And I don't think I need to tell the two of you how bad that could turn out for someone as brash as him. Not to mention that he'd probably no longer see the need for our training anymore." he continued to say and finished just above a whisper by the end of it.

"So that's what it is, you're afraid you'd lose him if he became a fellow S-Class." Gildarts suddenly declared in a cheery tone. This caused Laxus' expression to change into one of complete and utter shock as he twirled to look at the older mage with his mouth wide open while he tried to come up with something to say back to him. "Isn't that cute Master, Laxus is afraid to lose his first real friend." the crash mage continued to taunt the still stunned mage in between the two of them.

"That's not true, you perverted old coot!" he shouted out louder than he intended to, causing a few of the members below them to look up with confused expressions. "Mind your own goddamn business." he growled out while glaring down at anyone brave enough to keep looking up at them. This of course caused the two older mages he was with to burst into laughter, which only made him even more upset at himself for letting someone get to him like that.

"All joking aside, other than what you've already mentioned, what are your other reasons for not wanting him to compete this year? Which I'll admit that everything you've said so far is valid, but we both know that with the three of us watching over him it wouldn't be too much of a problem." said Makarov in a completely serious tone as the three of them went over to one of the tables on the second floor, where it was less likely for them to be overheard.

"As I just mentioned, he would probably start thinking that he no longer needs to train. And like I told you when we made our little bet, he has more potential than anyone I've ever seen before. But that potential will mean nothing if he doesn't have a good foundation, which is exactly what I'm doing with him right now and will continue to do until the last trials in our allotted time." explained Laxus as they sat down and got comfortable.

"And?" drawled out his grandfather with a wide grin.

"And nothing, the stuff that brat doesn't know about how this world actually works is astounding." he replied while shaking his head at some of the lengthy conversations he's had with said brat that shouldn't have taken more than just a few minutes to understand.

"And?" drawled out Gildarts in the same manner as Makarov.

"And he still needs to teach me!" shouted out the now clearly upset blonde as he slammed his hands down onto the table. "Is that what you two wanted to hear me say? That I always planned on him teaching me what his dragon taught him, all in the hopes of getting a better understanding of what was forced into me. So I could just maybe use it for more than a source of power." he finished in a calm tone as his eyes dropped to the table, causing him to miss the shocked looks the other two had flash over their faces.

"Honestly no… I was expecting to just keep taunting you about becoming best friends with him." stated Gildarts in a solemn tone that matched the expression that came over his visage. This caught the teenager off guard, which was only doubled as he finally looked back up and came face to face with his grandfather's sad smile directed at him.

"He never should've done that to you and at such a young age." said Makarov in a regretful tone as he and Laxus locked eyes with each other. "If I had known what he was planning to do back then I would've stopped him."

"What's done is done Gramps, and if I'm being honest with myself I'm glad that he did." replied Laxus as a faint smile could just barely be seen on the edges of his lips. "It helped me become the person I am today, not to mention it gave me something to have in common with him. I honestly don't know if he would have agreed to come train with me otherwise. Which just proves how close we actually were to possibly losing him." he finished while giving his grandfather a stern look.

This was news to the Ace of their guild, who looked over at his master with an expression that if summed up in words. Would simply say, 'you better start explaining' or they would more than likely be having a very different conversation in a few minutes. This just showed how quickly he took to their pink haired dragon slayer that he had only met a few times before due to him always being away on jobs.

"What Laxus meant by losing him was him possibly leaving the guild to go and look for Igneel." he quickly explained, which was still extremely vague.

"Doesn't he do that already?" asked the crash mage as his expression stayed the same.

"Yes, but this would have been a more permanent endeavor." he elaborated while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"And why exactly would he think of doing something like that?" inquired Gildarts as some of his magical pressure started to radiate off of him, making it slightly hard to breathe. It was at this point that Laxus decided to start talking again, filling in the older mage on how things were while he was away. Needless to say Gildarts was stunned to find out that Makarov knew about all of this and did nothing but sit back and watch. Bringing them to their current state where he was giving the titan mage a very heated glare while waiting for him to explain himself.

"I'll admit that in hindsight, I was completely wrong to do nothing but sit back and hope that they would work everything out between all of them. But that is just part of growing up, and if I had tried to stop them from picking on him it might have just made it worse." stated the elderly mage as he stroked his mustache in thought. "Not to mention that we all know he wouldn't have wanted someone else to fight his fights for him. Also he was and still is one of the happiest kids I've ever known despite what he's already been through." he finished in a somber voice.

"I'll admit that I never would have guessed any of that was happening by the way he acted when I stopped by." stated Gildarts as he shook his head. He was now wondering how hard it was on Natsu, when the boy couldn't understand that some of the things people said about or to him were not always what they actually thought or meant. Something that he never had the chance to learn since he was taught by a dragon, or claimed to be, which was now seeming more and more likely as he thought about it.

"The kid's tough, which I'm guessing you'd have to be when you were raised by a dragon." commented Laxus as he leaned back in his seat. "But everyone has their breaking point and he was almost to his."

"So you believe him?" asked Makarov as a smile spread across his lips.

"Yep, but it sounds to me like you didn't." he answered while not taking his eyes off of the ceiling above him.

"I had my reservations when he first told me he was raised by a fire breathing dragon, but after observing him for the first month it was pretty obvious that he wasn't raised like a normal child." stated Makarov before taking a big swig of his beer. Only to then put it down and see his grandson now glaring daggers at him from across the table.

"And you still did nothing?" he asked in an enraged tone as electricity started to spark off of him.

"Far from it Laxus." replied Makarov in a commanding tone. "After realizing all of this I brought him to my office and had a long chat with him. Where we discussed his future in the guild and his overall lack of knowledge in certain areas and what we could do to remedy this. But the stubborn brat was determined to try and learn it on his own, which is one of the reasons I let him be for all of this time."

"Then you should have forced him." argued Laxus as he slammed a clenched fist against the table.

"And from your experience with the boy, please tell me how well that would've gone over." he stated while giving his grandson an equally intense glare. "Honestly I'm still surprised Erza was able to teach him how to read and write as well as she did." he finished while shaking his head back and forth.

"It wouldn't have gone well." admitted the lightning mage reluctantly as he sat back down and didn't look as upset as he was just moments ago.

"All things considered it seems to have worked out for the best, because if I'm not mistaken, you two probably wouldn't be all buddy-buddy if Master had acted differently." pointed out Gildarts while once again sporting one of his cheesy grins that were really starting to get on the nerves of a certain blonde.

"Whatever you old coots." mumbled Laxus as he got up and headed towards the stairs.

"Aww, come on Laxus, you didn't even tell us what else the two of you did while you were away." whined the older mage, not caring in the slightest that some would believe such actions were unbefitting of the Ace of a guild.

"Just ask him for crying out loud!" he shouted back as he started to descend the stairs. "I'll be at home if you need me Gramps." he added on right before he disappeared from their sight.

"Well that's new." commented Makarov as a large smile spread across his face from ear to ear.

"What exactly is new?" inquired a slightly confused crash mage.

"All of it." replied Makarov before downing the rest of his drink. "Ever since I expelled his father we were slowly drifting apart and it was getting to the point that sometimes we wouldn't even talk for an entire week. But as you can see we are now capable of actually having a civilized discussion with each other that doesn't end with both of us just yelling at the other one." he finished as his smile turned into a smug one.

"Am I correct in assuming you were hoping that things would turn out like this?" he asked while giving the Master of Fairy Tail a knowing look.

"I had hoped, but I honestly didn't expect for it to happen so soon or to such an extent." answered Makarov as he pulled out a pipe and lit it.

"No kidding, I still can't get over how much Natsu has grown in strength alone since the last time we fought. Not to mention everything else he seems to be learning from Laxus." he said while rubbing the small bruise that formed from the one hit he received from the pink haired dragon slayer.

"I'm just as surprised as you are Gildarts. The rest of the guild was starting to get it in my head that Natsu was going to return as a mini version of Laxus." chuckled Makarov as he took a quick puff from his pipe that he had to the right side of his mouth.

"There's still time." pointed out the orange haired man sitting with him. "And have you even thought about how much trouble those two could get into together; which I'm sure wouldn't be cheap." By this point Makarov's face was as white as a ghost and you could almost see him watching the jewels slip through his fingers because of two certain dragon slayers. Of course this caused Gildarts to start laughing at his expense and even went further with it and started to ponder out loud how strong the two would become if he started to train them as well.

 **With Laxus as he made it down to the first level:**

Never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that the rest of their day would wind up like this. He knew that they both would of course be bombarded with all sorts of questions, but back when he first agreed to this little bet of theirs he planned on letting Natsu handle all of that. But for some unknown reason he didn't take off as soon as they were back like he initially planned, and even started to answer questions that were asked by members he never would have given the time of day to before. And it surprisingly was actually pleasant for him for some reason and he probably would've continued to answer them if Natsu hadn't awoken when he did and gotten into that little fight with Mira and Erza.

Okay, Laxus knew that he was responsible for it but he couldn't help but antagonize the two girls into attacking the little fire ball that he knew was itching for a fight. But what he wasn't counting on was the conversation that he had with his grandfather and Gildarts afterwards. A chat that pointed out something he hadn't really thought about until he realized he enjoyed his time with Natsu, which was that he really didn't have any friends in the guild. Something that he could partially blame his father for because of the constant training and pressure he was under to become stronger. And according to his dad, friends were nothing but a weakness to be exploited, which he unknowingly started to believe and was why he started to pull away from everyone in the guild.

Laxus hated to admit this but he still believed that way until just two months ago when he had a really long conversation with his young student. The purpose for their lengthy chat was for him to find out how Natsu pushed himself as far as he did, which was further than he ever thought possible. Because some of the things he told the young teen to do were supposed to be impossible for him to achieve by himself for at least a few months that is. But just after a few days the younger dragon slayer would somehow complete it, when he still was being taught other things throughout the day. It concluded with Natsu simply stating that he tries as hard as he does so that he could protect those that he cares about and considers his family.

Laxus didn't know if he was supposed to hear this as well, but at the very end of it Natsu whispered to himself that this way no one could ever leave him again. He didn't know if the young dragon slayer intended to force people to stay with him, which seemed very unlikely considering his personality. Or if he thought that Igneel and his parents abandoned him because he wasn't strong enough and that Fairy Tail would do the same if he didn't do something about it. Either way he couldn't deny that Natsu was growing faster than he predicted and it was because of his goal to protect his friends and family form any harm that might come their way.

All of these thoughts were swirling around his head as he scanned the members still in the guildhall. There was Natsu and his little group listening in on his adventures since the last time they saw him, which brought a small smile to his face at seeing how happy the pink haired teen was as he did so. Tucked into two different corners of the guildhall were Erza and Mira, with Erza still being within earshot of Natsu and seemed to be just as interested in his stories as the rest of them. Other than those three, he came to the sad realization that he didn't really know anyone else in the guild. So with a sigh he headed towards the exit of the guildhall intending to head home like he told Gramps.

"Laxus!" called out Natsu, causing said blonde to turn around and take notice of the dragon slayer now standing on the top of his table with empty dishes scattered all about him.

"What is it brat?" he asked back in an irritated tone that caused a few of the other kids gathered around Natsu to flinch. Seeing this he instantly regretted that he let his current inner turmoil spill out in the form of him slightly reverting to how he used to act. But to his surprise his protégée either didn't notice or didn't care and continued to grin at him with that goofy grin of his.

"I was telling Ice Princess here about that last S-Class job we went on together and how you took on the guy we were after while I handled the rest of his friends. That was at least twenty different mages that were also armed with all sorts of weapons I've never even seen before. But he says that there was no way I could handle that many people on my own." said Natsu still grinning like a loon as Gray let out a scoff while he rolled his eyes.

"Sorry Natsu but he's correct." he replied with a small smile coming over his face as Natsu instantly lost his grin as his mouth fell wide open.

"I told you Flame Brain!" cheered Gray as he pointed at the still shell shocked dragon slayer.

"But…" Natsu started to stutter out in disbelief.

"There was at least thirty of those weaklings." stated Laxus before turning back around and heading towards the exit again. He once again was smiling as he heard Natsu start celebrating while also rubbing it in his rival's face for good measure of course. And just as he was about to leave he heard his name once again shouted from across the guildhall.

"What is it now Natsu?" he asked in a tired tone as he glanced over his shoulder at him.

"I was hoping you could tell them about your fight with whatever his name was." responded Natsu as he scratched his temple in thought, clearly trying to recall the name of the person they were supposed to capture and return to the Council.

"His name was Devon, and I'm fairly certain that you could tell it." he said with a little chuckle.

"I could but your version is better and has more details since you were the one actually there." pointed out the dragon slayer as his usual grin came back over his face.

"Fine, but just this once." replied Laxus after letting out a tired sigh, while on the inside he was just happy to have a chance present itself so soon where he could start learning more about his fellow guild members. Of course without having to embarrass himself by actually admitting he didn't know them and wanted to after hanging out with Natsu. As Laxus took his seat next to Natsu, two individuals from the second level couldn't help but smile at the scene unfolding before them.

 **End of Chapter!**

 **Author's Notes:**

 **So as always I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this story of mine, which I hope you enjoyed as much as I did writing it. So if you guys couldn't tell I'm going to try and make a few characters have bigger roles in this story than they would have otherwise. And with that in mind I'd be open to suggestions on who else you'd like to see have a bigger part in this story. Oh and as for the pairing in this story, I've got it narrowed down to four different girls with two of them being more likely than the other two since they are not as common on here. With that said I will be keeping the candidates secret from those just reading this story for a while longer since in my opinion it's nice to have a little mystery in there. Another thing I'd like to hear all of your opinions on is how fast do you want me to get to the canon events. So my last note for this chapter is going to be about the outfit I'll eventually have Natsu wearing by the time I get to cannon, which I've got a slight idea of what that's going to be but after writing on here I've come to learn that you guys have tons of great ideas that even if I don't use them help me think of something I otherwise wouldn't have thought about. As of right now I'm planning on having Natsu's outfit similar to Laxus but of course with his own flare.**

 **Until the next chapter,**

 **Wait, I honestly forgot to say feel free to leave me a review or a PM about anything you might want to chat about and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.**

 **Digem Out!**


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